A Deal or No Deal
by TheHunterPersian
Summary: After a case against Eggman goes horribly wrong, Vector and Charmy discover that Espio has been captured by Eggman, and is holding him up for ransom. Vector thought this new adventure to save Espio would be easy; beat up a few robots, collect the seven Chaos Emeralds for the ransom, and rescue him. That is, if Vector only hadn't fallen for his best friend. Vecpio.
1. Prologue: The Beginning

**(AN: Why hello everyone! It's TheHunterPersian back again bringing you another Vecpio fic! This time, THIS one is the one I've been hinting at since the end of Transfer, and in Kinjirareta Ai. I'm personally gunna call this my biggest fic so far, even more than Transfer, mainly due to the fact that this fic, while short on chapters, I wanna make it long and descriptive. Not to mention, as it is clear, this is more of an Action/Adventure oriented Vecpio fic, however, that's NOT to say there will be romance in it.**

 **...however, it will be done in a... DIFFERENT way. How so? Well, you'll just need to read to see how I've done this!**

 **I'd also like to give my thanks to Roxy1049 on DA again for letting me use one of her Vecpio edits as this fic's cover image!**

 **So, let's get on with the show, this is: A Deal or No Deal!)**

* * *

"Give it up, Chaotix! I've got all three of you tired, and there's no Sonic and his little rodent friends to save you!"

Eggman laughed as he stared down at the Team Chaotix members; Vector, Espio, and Charmy, all breathing heavily as cuts and bruises covered their body.

"We will NOT give up, Dr. Eggman!" Espio yelled, holding his kunai tightly.

"Yeah! What Espio said!" replied Charmy.

"Very well then, be it as it is, because it's your deaths that you are asking for!"

Dr. Eggman shot lasers from his Eggmobile as Vector grabbed Espio and Charmy and got them out of the way. He shot a fireball at the Eggmobile, but it was deflected, and it hit Vector.

"VECTOR!" yelled Charmy, buzzing up to him. Espio quickly followed suite, picking up his friend.

"H-Heh… don't worry 'bout me guys, Imma be alright. Just kick Eggman's ass fer me… alrighty?" Vector said. He smirked, and then fell limp.

"V-Vector?" Charmy asked, whimpering. "Is he-?"

"No, he's still alive," Espio said, checking Vector's pulse. "Just knocked out, that's all."

Charmy nodded, but then turned his head to face Eggman.

"YOU'RE GUNNA PAY FOR THIS EGGMAN! NO ONE HURTS VECTOR!" he yelled.

"Aww, the little tyke is trying his best to be threatening like his caretakers… How sweet…" Eggman mocked in a "baby" voice. Charmy yelled, and buzzed quickly over to Eggman.

"Charmy, no!" Espio yelled, extending out his hand. Before the small bee could attack with his stinger, Eggman pressed a button that caused a wrecking ball to appear, hitting the bee. The chameleon cringed as he saw what happened to the young child, hitting the wall and falling on the ground. Espio ran over to see the damage. Surprisingly, Charmy was knocked out, and none of his bones were broken from what would have been a very painful thud. He had to thank his lucky stars the youngest Chaotix member wasn't majorly hurt.

Espio grit his teeth as his lemon yellow eyes slit like a snake. His hand began to shake as it was visible as all day; the chameleon was enraged.

"EGGMAN! YOU'VE GONE FAR ENOUGH! NO ONE HURTS MY FRIENDS, NOT THE LIKES OF YOU, **NO ONE!"**

Espio didn't care if he felt like he was about to lose his voice, he wanted his message to be clear. However, Eggman simply laughed.

"Oh, Espio, if only you knew what this means, your teammates all beaten up, and you're the only one standing." he said.

"What do you mean by that, doctor?"

"ROBOTS! SEIZE HIM!"

"Wha-!"

It was too late, a multitude of robots came from the ceiling and rushed towards the chameleon. He tried to fight back, but there were far too many. The largest robot of them swung its arm cannon and struck Espio, knocking him out cold. Eggman laughed as the three Chaotix members lay unconscious on the floor.

* * *

…

…

"…hng… w-w… Wha?"

Vector rubbed his head as he woke up. His eyes became blinded by the light coming from the window.

"Wait… window?"

Vector saw that he wasn't in Eggman's base, but instead, back at the Chaotix Detective Agency. He had his head on his desk, as if he fell asleep on it. Getting up from his chair, he looked out the window to see that…

Everything was normal.

The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue, and there wasn't a single cloud in the heavens. It almost was like the Chaotix hadn't taken the case that led them to that Eggman attack.

Eggman attack…

Vector froze when he thought about it.

"Awh, crap! Where's Espio and Charmy?!" he frantically yelled. He rushed over to Charmy's room and opened the door. Fortunately, the bee was on his bed. Vector took a sigh of relief, and walked over to him.

"Charmy?" Vector said, poking the child. "Charmy, wake up."

"Mmm…" Charmy muttered. "V-Vector?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Immediately, when Charmy looked up, he shot towards Vector and hugged him.

"Oh, V-Vector! I thought Eggman killed you when he hit you with your fireball! I was so worried!"

The crocodile could tell that the child was close to tears, so he patted his back, soothing him.

"Hey, Eggman needs more than one stinkin' fireball to bring me down!"

Charmy began to laugh, no longer sad.

"Heh, that's the Charmy I like to see. C'mon, let's go see what Espio's up to."

Vector and Charmy walked to Espio's room, opening the door and expecting for him to be there.

"Hey, Espio, yeh doin' okay-"

The large green reptile froze when he saw that Espio's room was completely empty.

 _"That's strange…"_ Vector thought.

"What's wrong, Vector?" Charmy asked.

"Espio's not in his room."

"He's not? Well, maybe he's in a different part of the house! After all, you know he wakes up early!"

"That is true… c'mon."

Vector went into the living room, but found no Espio. Not in the kitchen, or even the very small laundry room.

There was no Espio meditating, no Espio lying against a wall, no Espio doing anything ninja related, nothing. It almost was like he…. disappeared.

"I'm gunna go check outside!" Vector said in a panic, becoming more worried. He exited out of the Chaotix Detective Agency, and looked around the entirety of the property. Again, there was no sight of the chameleon.

"Where did he go? Do you think he went somewhere?" Charmy asked when Vector got inside.

"I dunno… and that's the scary part…" replied Vector.

Just then, there was a tapping on the window. Vector and Charmy turned their head to see two familiar faces; a red and black orb headed robot, and a yellow and black cube headed robot.

"It's Orbot and Cubot!" Charmy said. "What are THEY doing here?! Don't they know bad guys aren't invited?"

"Charmy, I'm gunna have to ask ya to stay back. Ya dunno what they could possibly have," Vector replied. He walked over to the window and opened it.

"Package from Dr. Eggman!" Cubot said, holding out a tablet in front of him.

"That's not a package, bolts for brains," Orbot spat. "A package is something in a box or at least, a material WRAPPED in something. This tablet isn't, as it isn't in anything."

"Well okay, fine! What do YOU want me to call it then?"

"It's a delivery! That's not what I want it to call it-"

"Are yeh two done?" asked Vector. The two robots looked up at the crocodile.

"DELIVERY, from Dr. Eggman," Cubot yelled, giving Orbot the evil eye. He handed Vector the tablet.

"We must be going now," said Orbot, and the two robots set sail back to the evil scientist on a mini Eggmobile. Vector and Charmy watched as the two sped off, and seeming to… fight about who would be the pilot.

"That was weird," said Charmy.

"Agreed… anyway, let's see what "Baldy McNosehair" has to offer for us."

"That's Sonic's lame line!"

"I know, and I'm temporarily takin' control of said lame line."

Vector turned on the tablet, and an image of Dr. Eggman appeared on screen.

"Oh ho ho ho! It's nice to see you, Chaotix! Did you expect me?" The doctor asked.

"Gee, I dunno, does two robots handin' ya a tablet sayin' it's from Dr. Eggman count?"

Eggman paused and turned to look at the side.

"YOU IDIOTS! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LEAVE IT ON THEIR PORCH! NOT JUST GIVE IT TO THEM! I SWEAR, WHEN I'M DONE HERE I'LL… GAH, NEVER MIND!"

Eggman cleared his throat, and turned to face the screen.

"Anyway, you must be curious as to why I've given you this! Well, I'm sure you're worried about your little friend, Espio, right?"

Vector and Charmy were taken aback. "H-Huh? How do YOU know about Espio being gone?!"

"Heh heh, it's quite simple actually! Move the camera!"

The camera facing Eggman turned, and with it, caused Vector and Charmy to freeze.

Espio was on the ground, hands tied up in handcuffs as Eggman's foot squished his head. Vector and Charmy gasped and almost let the tablet go.

"You see, I have a little FRIEND of yours right here, do you recognize him?"

"E-EGGMAN, THAT AIN'T COOL!" Vector yelled. "GIVE MAH FRIEND BACK!"

"Oh, I'M not going to let him go THAT easily. That IS… if you do me a favor…"

"What favor?" Charmy asked, however, Vector hushed him.

"You WILL bring me all seven Chaos Emeralds, all under Sonic and his friends' little noses, if you want him back!"

"And what if we decline?" asked Vector.

"Oh, surely you won't come to that, because…"

Eggman's foot squished Espio's head even harder, causing the chameleon to yelp out in pain. Charmy cried as he turned away, closed his eyes, and covered his ears. Vector watched as his friend… his BEST friend, was being tortured right in front of him.

"Decline and I'll make sure your friend doesn't survive another day! And trust me, it won't be by me."

The camera looked up at a multitude of robots, all pointing guns and lasers at Espio.

"THEY will too."

"Y-YER SICK! YER FU-… I MEAN, FREAKIN' SICK!"

"Ahaha… years of being BEATEN by that… LOATHSOME hedgehog certainly does quite a bit to you… I'm going with a plan even HE won't expect."

Vector grit his teeth and growled. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't let Eggman have the seven Chaos Emeralds, it would just be the end of the world.

But at the same time…

His friend's life was at risk. If he said no, Eggman would simply kill him.

Detective life was hard, but no choice Vector made in his life would be as hard as this.

Finally, he sighed, and came up with a conclusion.

"Alrighty… fine… we'll getcha those emeralds…"

Eggman took his foot off of Espio's head. The chameleon looked at the screen, giving a face of fear, a face he had never made before. It chilled Vector to the bone, and he knew it would surely stay with him.

He was breathing in and out, but was afraid to say anything in the fear of having his friends watch him being tortured. However, he began to mouth words.

"Help me."

Vector nodded as the camera turned to face Eggman, who was now smirking.

"Excellent… Don't worry; your friend will be kept safe by me on my airship. You won't need to worry about a thing, just get me those emeralds, and I'll return your friend in one peace. Transmission, over."

The tablet's screen filled with static as Vector turned it off. He walked over to Charmy and touched his arm.

"I know yer worried about Espio, I am too. But we got no choice, Charmy, we gotta get those emeralds," The large green reptile explained.

"B-But… what about Sonic and the others? They'll know and… they'll hurt us!"

"Don't worry, I've got an idea for them to help us if they do encounter us. For now, let's head out, we gotta do this fer Espio."

Vector smiled. "Be strong fer me, and fer Espio, okay?"

Charmy wiped his tears, and a smile formed on his face.

"Y-Yeah… I'll be strong!"

"C'mon, there's an adventure waitin' outside fer us."

"Yay, adventure!"

Charmy buzzed around hearing that. The crocodile smiled seeing Charmy all happy and giddy like normal. But the matter of Espio still tore at him.

He trusted Eggman's word about keeping him safe (despite being the evil mastermind that tries to defeat Sonic), not only that, Espio was a strong individual, and most likely or not, he would find his way out.

The two Chaotix members stepped out of the door, and ran to Station Square. Thus, beginning their quest for the Chaos Emeralds, and their quest to get back Espio.


	2. 1: Let the Adventure Begin!

**(AN: Happy new year, everybody! To celebrate our first steps into 2016, here's a new chapter right here! I get bragging rights that I made/updated the first Vecpio thing for this year. And yeah, more is to come :P**

 **Anyway, if u remember that I mentioned last chapter that this fic was gunna be long, this first chapter was 4.2k words. And the plan is that they're going to be muchhhhh longer from here...)**

* * *

"Y'know, Charmy, no matter how many times we come here, I can never get used to the hustlin' and bustlin' life in Station Square." said Vector as he and Charmy made their way through the streets of Station Square.

"I'll say! I'm having so much fun here!" squealed the bee. He began to buzz around his guardian. "Hey, Vector! Look at me! Look at me!"

Vector grabbed Charmy. "Okay, I think that's enough. It's good that yer havin' fun, but remember that we still got an important mission to do."

"That's right, saving Espio!"

"Good boy."

Vector patted Charmy's head, who smiled in response.

"Now… where should we look first?"

The crocodile scratched his chin. He may have been the head honcho of the Chaotix, but finding seven mystical emeralds in a large continent as Mobius would surely be difficult.

"If I were a Chaos Emerald… where would I be?" Charmy said to himself. Just then, the two Chaotix members passed by a panda and a penguin.

"Did you hear about what they found at the Mystic Ruins, Louise?" asked the penguin.

"I dunno, what did they find?" replied the panda, Louise.

"Some explorers said they found the entrance to some old temple there! I heard it on the news earlier today! Can you imagine what could possibly be in there…"

The two walked off, but hearing that gave Vector and Charmy a hint.

"An old temple in the Mystic Ruins…" Vector muttered. "If that's the case, we better head there to see if there's anything. C'mon, Charmy."

Charmy wasn't paying attention, and instead, had his eyes on the multiple billboards and advertisements surrounding him. Vector walked up to him, and placed his hands on his hips.

"O-Oh, Vector!" Charmy exclaimed. His guardian stared him down.

"Eh heh heh…"

Vector grabbed Charmy by the jacket, and walked over to the train station.

* * *

Getting off of the train from Station Square to the Mystic Ruins, Vector and Charmy could already see a group of archeologists standing by one of the cliffs of the Mystic Ruins.

"Well we should go ask, no use just standin' here," Vector commented. He and Charmy walked over to the group, who noticed them coming up to them.

"Excuse me, what's goin' on here? Does this have somethin' to do 'bout a temple by any chance?" Vector asked.

"Oh, so you've heard too!" exclaimed the main archaeologist, an old hare. "Yes, my group of archaeologists and I have found what seems to be an old temple for the Chaos Emeralds! You do know about those, correct?"

 _"Oh buddy, lemme tell ya,"_ Vector thought. He and Charmy simply nodded.

"Well that's good that you two are educated! Anyway, we believe that this old temple may contain old treasure, and perhaps one of the legendary Chaos Emeralds, kept by the ancient Echidna clan. Treasures and jewels that have been used as offerings to the gods, and today, would certainly fascinate any archaeologist such as me! My team and I are hoping to uncover this temple so we can preserve the items in there for generations."

He then yawned. "But… we have been working since sunrise to open the gateway to the temple. We have made a fake entrance to it and plan to return back to Station Square for the day. Tomorrow, we will go explore the temple."

The hare looked behind him. "Men, we should be leaving now. I hope you two have a good day."

The archaeologist group walked off and headed on board to the train back to Station Square. As the platform sped off, Vector turned to Charmy.

"C'mon, let's go to this temple. The first Chaos Emerald is bound to be there." Vector said.

"Yeah! It's temple time!" exclaimed the bee. Vector uncovered the fake entrance and crawled through it, Charmy right behind him.

As the two Chaotix members emerged from the other side, they faced a large stone temple. Many pillars stood on the side of the walkway, a teardrop of sorts on each pillar.

"This must be it," commented Vector. The two walked down the slope and began to walk the path leading to the temple's entrance. As they looked at each pillar, it was obvious that this temple was a millennia old, many parts of the pillars were cracked and broken, not to mention, had an… old feel to them.

"I wonder why this place was abandoned, not to mention, why no one found it until now…" said Vector.

"Who cares, Vector? We found where the first Chaos Emerald could be!" replied Charmy.

Now Vector and Charmy were going up the steps leading to the temple's entrance. The large green reptile looked behind him, hoping that the archaeologist hadn't decided for whatever reason to return to the temple to find something.

Since it wasn't the case, Vector relaxed, and finally, the two reached up to the entrance. The door opened automatically, startling Vector and Charmy for a second.

"Whoa… it's like this temple was expecting us or something..." commented the insect child.

"Well, no use in goin' back. We gotta do this for Espio anyhow. Let's do this, Charmy."

Vector and Charmy stepped into the dark entrance to the temple.

* * *

The sounds of torches on fire filled the room. Vector and Charmy took a moment to appreciate the murals on the wall. Judging by the multiple echidna's drawn, the archaeologist was right on how the temple was used by the Knuckles' Clan.

"I dunno about you, but I think Espio would like this place…" Charmy said gloomily. Vector had a sad look on his face. He could only wonder what his chameleon best friend was doing now. Next time they got a break, Vector remembered to take Espio to this temple, all by themselves.

Walking through the narrow hallway, the Chaotix took a turn and went up the steps leading to an opening that went down.

"Looks like we're gunna be doin' a bit of runnin'," commented Vector.

"Yay! Now I get to act like Sonic!"

"I dunno, with yer legs, I dun bees can run,"

"Aww…"

"Don't get down in the dumps, Charmy, ya still got yer wings fer a reason."

Charmy smiled, and Vector ran down the opening, the bee buzzing behind him. The crocodile's loud footsteps echoed through each twist and turn that they took.

Finally, the hallway came to an exit, but instead of leading to somewhere, Vector dropped down into a pit.

However, instead of falling to his death like a frightened Charmy was lead to believe, he emerged upwards and landed onto a platform above.

"It's a spring!" The youngest Chaotix member said.

"C'mon, Charmy, up here!" Vector called. Charmy jumped down and sprung onto the spring, landed next to Vector. The two walked into a room, and gasped.

No words could describe the sheer massiveness of the room they were in. Vector and Charmy looked around the flooded main room.

"Looks like we're gunna have to do some swimmmin'," Vector said.

"But, Vector! I can't swim through that!" Charmy complained.

That was true. Charmy was only a child, and normally when he went swimming, it was in a pool that was one to two feet deep, and he always had on floaties. This meant a change of plans.

"Alrighty, just hold yer breath, and I'll cover yer eyes while I swim. If ya need oxygen, squirm and I'll getcha back to the surface, okay?"

"O-Okay…"

Vector grabbed Charmy and held him under his armpit; the bee held his breath as the crocodile jumped into the water, swimming around to find where to go. He headed off in the direction of an opening to the right of him, and followed the path.

Charmy opened his mouth as bubbles came from it, and he began to squirm under Vector's grasp. Looking at him, the large green reptile sped up, finding a surface for him to climb upon just moments later. He grabbed Charmy, still covering his eyes, and got him on land. The head honcho of the Chaotix got up from the water, seeing Charmy gasping for air on the ground.

"Ya doin' okay, kid?" Vector asked.

"Y-Yeah… just let me catch my breath," replied Charmy. The bee breathed in and out for a few minutes, before getting onto Vector's arms.

"Okay, I think I'm ready now!"

"Good, c'mon."

The same was done again as Vector continued to swim. He came across a rather narrow entryway, but found that he could swim through perfectly.

Entering a new room, Charmy squirmed again as Vector came onto the surface. Letting the youngest Chaotix members catch his breath again, the crocodile took a look around the room. It seemed to be a room that was generating the water. Judging from the stone, it was clearly ancient, yet… from the way it was moving, it felt like electricity was running the valve.

"These ancient echidna's sure knew a lot 'bout technology." Vector said. He got into the water and called over Charmy, buzzing over to him. They climbed on a ladder on the other side of the wall, which brought them up onto the slab of stone moving the valve.

"Alrighty, Charmy, ya know what to do here. Use yer wings and fly if I manage to fall off." said Vector.

"Aye aye, Vector!"

Charmy buzzed above Vector's head as the crocodile hung onto the bee's knees. They jumped onto the platform and moved to the valve.

"This must be where the source from all the water has been. I'm sure that if we move this here valve, the water will drain." Charmy said.

"Hey, no use in tryin'?"

Vector latched onto the valve and began to turn it, closing the valve. Soon enough, all the water in the room drained, much like Charmy predicted.

"Now, how are we gunna get down?!" Vector yelled.

"Silly ol' Vector, this is where I come in!" replied Charmy. He began to buzz down to the ground, and despite the almost two hundred pound crocodile on his legs, the bee had no problem returning to the surface.

"For the leader, you can be so narrow minded!"

Charmy pinched Vector's nostrils, the crocodile not looking amused.

"Don't patronize me, Charmy…" Vector mumbled. The bee ignored him to notice an entryway behind Vector.

"What's over there?" he asked, buzzing to it. Vector almost jumped out of his socks.

"CHARMY! DON'T GO TO PLACES YA DUNNO ARE SAFE! WAIT FER AN ADULT, PREFERABLY ME IN THIS CASE!" he yelled, running to catch up to the young Chaotix member. He could see him climbing up a ladder.

"Little kids…" Vector said to himself, rolling his eyes. He began to climb up the ladder quickly and caught up with the bee.

"Hey, Vector, look! All the water in the main room has drained out!" Charmy said. Vector looked cross with him.

"Okay… I'm sorry I went ahead without you…"

"Well now ya at least know."

Vector looked to see that Charmy was telling the truth, all the water in the main room had been drained.

"But wait… what the heck is that?"

Vector noticed a large stone manhole on the bottom of the room. He tapped Charmy's arm.

"Charmy, fly us to that manhole," Vector pointed to it.

"On it!"

Charmy flew above Vector, who grabbed his legs. The bee then jumped, and flew down to where the manhole is. Letting go, the crocodile realized it was his turn.

"Stand back, Charmy, I dun wantcha gettin' hurt."

Vector grabbed the manhole's edges and began to lift it. With his strength, he was able to push it on its side and let it fall, exposing a deep, dark hole.

"Man, I wish I could be as strong as you, Vector." Charmy commented. "Being strong enough to lift heavy things like that manhole and your barbell back home, having muscles, all that."

Vector playfully nudged Charmy. "Hey, maybe if ya actually eat yer greens, ya can be strong as me. Ya don't get strong overnight ya know."

Charmy stuck his tongue out. "You know I hate vegetables…"

"Well, ya know what they say; kids who eat their greens grow up to be big and strong."

The bee turned away from Vector, wanting to end the conversation about the dreaded… vegetables.

"C'mon, let's head down."

Vector jumped into the hole, him yelling as he fell down.

"I NOW REGRET DOIN' SOMETHIN' THIS CRAZY YET EXHILARATIN' AT THE SAME TIMEEEEE!"

"Hey! You can't have fun without me, Vector! Wait up!"

Charmy quickly zoomed down into the hole, nothing but black surrounding him. Eventually, he saw a room below him, and the top of Vector's head in water.

"There you are!" The bee said. "What… is this place?"

"I dunno Charmy but this place is mighty fine!" Vector exclaimed. He swam on him back, happily looking content. "I dunno 'bout ya though, but this water feels… strange…"

"How so?"

"Like, kinda jelly. Oh well, not like I'm complainin', it's great to swim in!"

Unbeknownst to the two Chaotix members, a pair of red eyes began to glow from under the water. A creature emerged from it, and began to swim around. Vector's eyes opened when he felt the waves of the water move.

"Did ya see that Charmy?" Vector asked.

"Yeah… the waves moved… but… nothing else is here… is there?" replied Charmy.

The creature began to emerge from the water, growing in size and length. Vector's jaw dropped as he quickly grabbed Charmy.

"What the?!"

"CHARMY, CLOSE YER EYES!"

Vector covered the bee's face and swiftly swam out of the way as the creature slammed down on where they were previously. Nine separate platforms began to rise as Vector got on the closest one. He let go of Charmy and stared as the creature emerged and revealed its true self; a large water dragon. It roared as it retreated back into the water.

Suddenly, Vector could see that spears were coming from two totem murals on the wall, rushing toward both him and Charmy. The two got out of the way as the spears fell into the water.

"Da-… I meant, dang! Who the hell knew there was some dragon livin' down here!" Vector yelled.

"Just imagine if that archaeologist dude came down here! We're lucky we came here first!" Charmy exclaimed. "Come on, Vector! Let's kick this dragon's butt!"

The water dragon began to open its mouth, revealing a large water ball forming. It then shot it directly at the Chaotix as the spears began to move yet again. Vector and Charmy got out of the way from both. Vector shot a fireball at the water dragon, but it disintegrated as it made contact.

"Oh yeah… water beats fire…" Vector reminded himself. The crocodile quickly thought of a new strategy.

"What to do? What to do?!" he said to himself. Looking at the eyes of the water dragon, Vector got his idea.

"Charmy, it's time we distract!"

"Okay!"

Vector placed Charmy into his mouth and shot him at the main body of the water dragon. The water dragon became increasingly annoyed with each hit, and after four hits, it grew angry.

"Fly, Charmy!"

Vector grabbed Charmy's legs just in time; the water dragon began to move its head back and forth between the nine pillars. It did it repeatedly as Charmy soon began to get tired.

"I don't know how much I can't l-last, Vector!" he said.

"Keep goin', Charmy! Fer as long as ya can!"

With newfound determination, the bee tried to stay in the air for as long as he could, but with each flap of his wings came more tiredness. Eventually, his wings gave out, and the two promptly feel just as the water dragon retreated. It came on the other side, and crashed its head in the middle. The water dragon began flailing around as Vector realized now was the perfect time to enact his strategy.

"Charmy, I know yer tired, but can ya use yer stinger?" Vector asked.

"I… *huff puff*… I can try…" Charmy replied.

Vector grabbed Charmy and jumped to the pillar closest to the right eye of the water dragon. He held out Charmy as the bee used his stinger to poke the right eye. It was a direct hit as the water dragon withdrew from the pillar and roared in pain. It retreated back into the water, poking its head out to the surface a few times to attempt to pelt Vector (still holding Charmy) with water balls.

Soon enough, the same occurrence happened again, where the water dragon swished its head back and forth to attempt to smack Vector into the water. This time, seeing as Charmy was tired from flapping his wings, Vector had to jump to dodge each attack. Once again, the water dragon slammed its head into the middle pillars and flailed yet again.

Vector jumped into the water and swam to the other side. Getting up, he looked at Charmy.

"Ya know what to do, right?" he asked. The bee nodded as he was held out. Charmy used his stinger to attack the left eye, and the water dragon roared as it limped back onto the pillars. Vector let Charmy go as he jumped into the air and began attacking the body of the water dragon. It made low grunts and growls at each punch came into contact.

Soon, Vector made it to the jaw, and began to open it wide. He then began to extend the jaw using his strength yet again. Veins bulged on his biceps as his arms shook. The crocodile growled then yelled as he split open the jaw of the water dragon. It screeched in response as it pulled back, roaring in pain as in its heart, a blue aura began to form. And with that, the water dragon exploded, sending water flying across the room. Vector and Charmy were pelted with strong bouts of aqua as the water in the room drained.

The pillars began to lower down as Vector breathed in and out. He had never done anything so… gruesome before in his life. While he never considered himself as a violent person, something about beating an enemy like that felt so great.

He wasn't the only one who thought so. Charmy simply stared at his guardian for the entire time. Vector looked behind him to see the staring Charmy.

"Charmy? Ya okay?" he asked.

Suddenly, Charmy outbursted.

"THAT… WAS… AWESOME!"

The bee buzzed around Vector quickly.

"WOW VECTOR, YOU WERE SO COOL DOING THAT! I MEAN, YOU JUST GRABBED THAT JAW AND JUST RIPPED IT IN HALF LIKE IT WAS NOTHING I MEAN HOW COOL IS THAT…"

The bee continued to excitedly yell, causing his guardian to blush.

"Heh heh… thanks Charmy…"

All of a sudden, a wall in front of them began to lower down. The two Chaotix members looked at each other and knew what to do.

"What's beyond there?" Charmy asked as they made their way to the new opening.

"I dunno, that's why we gotta find out, right?" replied Vector.

* * *

Entering the new room, it was a large, cathedral like room that was entirely blue. A small altar lie in the middle as a spotlight shined on it. Walking up to it, Vector and Charmy gasped as they saw what lied on the altar; a shiny blue Chaos Emerald.

"It's… the Chaos Emerald!" Charmy exclaimed. Vector smirked, and grabbed the emerald.

"Alright! One outta seven to go!" He exclaimed.

"Yay! We're gunna get closer to saving Espio now!"

Suddenly, a light shined around Vector and Charmy as the two Chaotix members began to levitate. They spun in place as a blinding light flashed, and the crocodile and bee were gone.

* * *

It was now night time, and Vector and Charmy emerged from outside the large green reptile went to stare at the Chaos Emerald.

"To think we got one of these Emeralds…" He said to himself. "We're gunna save ya, Espio…"

"Vector! It's getting late and I'm tiredddddd!" Charmy whined.

"Alrighty, alrighty, we can camp out here."

"Did you bring anything for us to sleep on?"

"Uhh…"

"You didn't did you?"

"Oh, hey! Look at this! There's actually a few sleepin' bags here!" Vector said while searching through a bush.

"Why would there be sleeping bags in a bush? That seems so dumb!"

Vector stared at the young child. "Don't question the conveniently placed sleepin' bags, Charmy. The author of this story is gunna give these the same explanation as Sonic Team does for Amy's hammer, the explanation being; there is none."

"Ohhhh, okay! I see now!"

Vector spread out the sleeping bags and opened them up. He got into one of them as Charmy got into the other.

"Just sleep fer now, Charmy. Tomorrow, we'll start on that second emerald."

"Okay! I am ready to sleep! So ready…"

Vector began to drift asleep, but however, found that his rest was short lived as Espio entered his mind.

* * *

 _"VECTOR!"_

 _Vector gasped as he quickly tried to reach out to Espio, who was being pulled into a void by a dark force. He grabbed his hand and tried to pull him with all his strength, but the force seemed reluctant to not go down without a fight, and tried to take Espio back._

 _"Vector! Don't let go!" Espio yelled._

 _"I ain't gunna!" replied the crocodile._

 _The large green reptile grit his teeth as he took many steps back, hoping that his strength would allow him and Espio to escape._

 _However, a voice hissed through the air._

 ** _"Your friend is with meeee…"_**

 _Espio's grip was ripped from Vector's as he was pulled into the void._

 _"VECTORR!"_

 _"ESPIOO!"_

 _Vector watched in complete horror as his best friend disappeared, gone by the winds of evil._

* * *

"ARGH!"

Vector woke up in a cold sweat, breathing in and out. He looked around the night to see that he wasn't holding Espio's grip in order to let him live or anything. The crocodile was in sleeping bag, a sleeping Charmy next to him, and the sounds of night filling the air. Vector sighed and got up from the sleeping bag, trying not to make too much noise to wake up Charmy.

Walking up to the temple's steps, Vector sat down and looked at the starry sky above him. The stars felt like it formed Espio's head. He sighed yet again, and slumped.

 _"Espio… where ever ya are, yer okay… right?"_

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ON EGGMAN'S AIRSHIP**

Looking around the two corridors, Espio attempted to slip through the bars in his cell. He was sure that the plates on the back of his head would get stuck on the bars, yet, it wasn't the case. The chameleon perfectly fit through and emerged from the other side.

"Eggman should really think of more better ideas on how to capture me, thinking I'm going to play the damsel in distress trope and not do anything until my "hero" comes to save me," Espio said.

"Hero"…

In this case, the Chaotix were the heroes, the knights in shining armor, Espio was the princess, and Eggman was the big bad dragon.

"But there's no time to concern myself with thinking of my situation as some sort of fairy tale."

Espio activated his ninja stealth and began to walk down the rocky corridor, looking around for any of Eggman's robots.

"Hmm… where should I go with escaping from here?"

Espio cursed that Eggman didn't label any of his rooms. It would have certainly made things more easier. He stood in front of one unlabeled room and pushed the button on the side to open the door.

"Let's see if there's anything on here that nets me anything."

Walking down the hallway, Espio noticed a crack in the metal wall. He stopped and walked up to it, seeing what would be on the other side. He saw Dr. Eggman holding a few folders as Orbot and Cubot stood near him.

"It's perfect, Orbot and Cubot! Things are going so well now that the Chaotix have gathered their first Chaos Emerald. They'll be crucial to… the plan…"

"The plan?" asked Cubot.

"It's about his "ultimate project", Cubot!" Orbot scolded. "Surely you have been paying attention to him?!"

"Why are you acting like your Eggman's henchman? You know you ha-"

Orbot grabbed Cubot's head. "IXNAY, on the tehay"

"I don't know what you two are talking about but I'm sure it's nothing concerning. Now, I assume you two would like a reminder about the… "Ultimate project"?" said Eggman.

Espio gulped from the other side, not knowing what he was going to say.

"You see… my new project is…"

And all of a sudden, a loud blaring alarm sounded.

However, it wasn't coming from the room Eggman was, it was BEHIND Espio. The chameleon turned around to see a robot blaring an alarm.

 _"NO!"_ he said to himself. _"I FORGOT THAT I TOOK OFF THE NINJA STEALTH!"_

The robot grabbed Espio as he heard Eggman call out. "That's what you get for escaping and listening to me!"

The fuchsia reptile attempted through fist and back to free his grip from the robot, but each attack made the grip on him tighter and tighter. Soon, he was back at his cell, and thrown back in, a padlock on his door now.

"Damn… it was going so well…" he muttered. Espio slouched on the wall and put his legs up to him. He took out a picture from a secret compartment in his cuffs and stared at it. It was a picture of him, Vector, and Charmy at an amusement park for the bee's birthday. Everyone in the image, even the chameleon himself, was smiling and happy.

Espio felt melancholy as he dropped the photo.

 _"Vector… Charmy… you're coming… right?"_


	3. 2: Sonic, The Blue Blur!

**(AN: First I wanna say: OH MY GOD**

 **I am real sorry I haven't updated in like 2 weeks, tbh I kinda procrastinated during the early parts of this fic, and I was writing other things too. Not to mention, this chapter is 9k words.**

 **Pretty much, I spent 9 DAYS on this.**

 **...**

 **Remember when I said this was gunna be a long fic?**

 **But in all actuality, you guys rock for waiting patiently these past, almost two weeks, for this chapter. However, i will warn now: most likely the other chapters are going to take as long as this one, maybe even LONGER, so do be prepared for that.**

 **Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy the long awaited Chapter 3!)**

* * *

The sound of something sizzling awoke Charmy from his sleep.

The bee yawned as he rubbed his eyes. A bright blue sky lay above on the cloudless morning, and here he was; snug under a sleeping bag.

Charmy turned his head to the side as he continued hearing the sizzling. He saw Vector crouched down by a fire, holding a stone over the fire as eggs cooked on it.

"Mornin', Charmy." Vector said. "Yer just in time, breakfast is almost done. We should be headin' out quickly to find that next Chaos Emerald. In the meantime, we should eat cause we gotta big day ahead of us."

However, Charmy frowned at the eggs. "Eggs that was cooked on a rock? That doesn't seem very clean, Vector…"

"Sometimes, we just gotta eat like our ancestors used to, Charmy. Don't worry, I'm sure nothin' will happen to ya."

The crocodile suddenly grinned. "That is, unless ya dun want the Holy Quail to come knockin' down askin' for its eggs back."

The youngest Chaotix member yelped as he covered his mouth. Vector laughed loudly.

"Ahhh, I'm just messin' with ya, Charmy. Nah, I bought these at the store. It was pain havin' to wake up early without coffee, but it was worth it."

"So…" Charmy looked at the pieces of cooking eggs. "How am I gunna eat this?"

"Pinch yer fingers on the side and put it in yer mouth. It's that simple."

Vector moved the stone closer to Charmy. "Careful," he said. "It's hot, real hot."

Fortunately, as he had gloves on, the bee didn't feel the heat of the stone, and grabbed the egg without any complications. Charmy happily ate away at his breakfast, and since Vector already finished his, he put the fire out and tossed the stone aside. As the two Chaotix members were now getting up, they could see the archaeologist from yesterday standing by the temple's entrance, hat over his eyes.

"Hey, it's the archaeologist dude!" Charmy exclaimed.

"What's he doin' here? Did he check out the temple?" asked Vector.

"We should go find out!"

Vector and Charmy walked up to the archaeologist. He turned around and looked at the sorrowfully.

"Oh… it's you two…" he moaned. "Just when I thought I found an all new discovery by myself, nothing, this temple garners us nothing…"

"Aw… that sucks to hear…" Vector lied, making up sympathy.

"I was hoping that this would be the beacon of archaeology. But… nothing…"

He then sighed. "I guess… we'll just have to find some other place… For now, I'll just see if my men have hopefully found anything new."

"Oh, uh… okay," said Charmy. "Me and my guardian are gunna go now…"

The crocodile and bee walked away from the archaeologist, wiping their foreheads.

"Whew! Guess we're thankful we fought the water dragon yesterday, otherwise those guys would have been toast!" Charmy said.

"I know. Anyway, we shouldn't worry 'bout that guy, Charmy. Let's just head back to Station Square and find that next Chaos Emerald!"

Charmy cheered as the two ran all the way back to the Mystic Ruins. They headed towards the direction of the train and managed to get on as the train was almost ready to depart.

Taking their seats, the two began to catch their breath as the doors of the train closed.

"Platform 5 is now on board to Station Square." The train's conductor said. As the train began to speed away, Vector noticed that no one else was on the train except him and Charmy. It gave him a bit of an eerie feeling, but the crocodile didn't make too much of it.

However, for some reason, he only noticed in the corner of his eye a hooded man standing by the doors at the end of the train. Vector almost jumped in surprise, how did he not notice him before?

Charmy noticed Vector's distress and looked up at him.

"Vector? What's wrong?" he asked. The bee then noticed the hooded man and got scared.

"V-Vector… who is he?"

Then, he began to walk towards the direction of the Chaotix. The large green reptile put his hand over Charmy as he growled. Suddenly, just as he stopped in front of the two, he began to speak.

 _"Do not be hostile, my friends. I mean no harm…"_ he said. Vector was surprised. He was expecting the hooded figure to be bad, but here he was, having a conversation with him.

 _"Hmm… judging from the both of you, you two are collecting Chaos Emeralds, are you not?"_

Vector jumped a bit in surprise. "H-Huh? How the heck d'ya know that?"

The hooded man ignored the question and began to dig into his robes. He pulled out a map and handed it to Vector.

 _"Here, take this,"_ he said. _"This map will show you where all the Chaos Emeralds are located. It should be much easier finding them now, no?"_

The crocodile and bee's eyes widened as they looked at the map, which showed each location of the remaining six Chaos Emeralds.

"T-Thank ya so much! But, who are ya-"

Vector looked up to see that the hooded man was now gone. The two frantically looked around, but found no sight of him.

"Who or… what was that person?" asked Charmy. "And how did he know we were finding the Emeralds? I mean, sure it's useful that we have this, but…"

"There's so many questions unanswered…" muttered Vector.

* * *

Getting off the train, Vector and Charmy made their way into the downtown portion of Station Square. Vector looked at the youngest Chaotix member and smiled.

"Y'know, I know I said today was gunna be busy, but how 'bout fer now, we have a little bit of a break before we get back to what we were doing before?" he said. Charmy gasped as stars formed in his eyes.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS, VECTOR?!"

The crocodile nodded.

"Yay! Whee!"

The bee began to happily buzz around. "C'mon, Vector! Where do we go to first?!"

"Let's just walk 'round, take in the view," replied Vector.

"That seems boring!"

"Not without me around," Vector grinned a toothy grin.

Complying, the bee followed around the crocodile as the two Chaotix members walked around Station Square, enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. With Vector and Charmy having fun, it seems that Espio was almost forgotten about.

Around noon-ish, Charmy got slightly hungry, so Vector decided to get some snacks from a vendor. He came back with two ice cream cones (one for him and the other for Charmy), a medium sized bag of nacho cheese flavored tortilla chips, and a few bags of candy. Placing the bagged goods into the little knapsack Vector had bought Charmy with the few rings they were able to get from the temple, the two Chaotix members ate their ice cream as they walked down the street.

However, Charmy stopped when he saw a familiar sight.

"Vector, look! It's Sonic!" he exclaimed, pointing to the blue hedgehog, who was standing in front of a chili dog stand. The two suddenly froze when it hit them that Sonic was merely feet away.

"Heh heh… hey, Vector… look! Sonic is over there! Eh heh…"

"Yeah... ha ha…"

The two awkwardly giggled as the quickly looked at each other.

"Charmy, we're leavin' now," Vector said.

"Gotcha!" replied the bee.

As soon as Vector and Charmy turned around, a voice stopped them from being able to walk away.

"Yo there, Vector and Charmy! How's life hangin'?"

The two turned around to see Sonic walking up to them, chili dog in hand.

 _"Dammit, here I was, thinkin' me and Charmy were gunna avoid him,"_ Vector thought.

"U-Uh, hey there, Sonic! Things are… rather well…"

"Y-Yeah! What Vector said!"

Sonic looked confused, he looked one way to Vector, then to Charmy, and back.

"Are you sure? You guys look nervous…" The blue blur commented.

"N-Nope! Never better!" replied Vector instantly.

"Huh…I see… say, where's Espio? Did he come with you guys but doesn't like crowds? Or does he have his nose in some Northern Mobius, heck, any Japanese-themed shop here?"

A lump formed in Vector's throat at the thought of Espio. It was becoming harder for him to form words by the second.

"E-E-Espio is… he didn't come…" He said.

Sonic looked even more bewildered by Vector's behavior. Charmy bit his nails.

"Vector? Are you sure you're feeling alright, man? I can go get you some medicine from down the corner-"

"ALRIGHTY! I CONFESS!"

Vector's sudden yell startled Sonic as the blue hedgehog jumped in the air. Then, once he landed back on the ground, he saw in the crocodile's hand, the blue Chaos Emerald.

"A Chaos Emerald?! Vector, where and how did you get this?!" Sonic asked frantically.

The large green reptile sighed as he stared at the jewel. "Yer gunna need to sit tight fer this one. It's a long story, but it'll help ya understand our situation. See, not too long ago…"

* * *

Once Vector was done with his story, Sonic looked puzzled, yet understanding.

"I understand why you wanna do this, Vec, but this is Eggman we're dealing with. Chaos only knows WHAT evil scheme he's coming with next," he said.

All of a sudden, a beeline of food fell down upon the hedgehog. It surprised the blue blur, causing him to freeze in place as food fell down upon him. Onlookers looked as the hero of Mobius was being ridiculed in front of public. A few people who walked by laughed as Sonic, Vector, and Charmy looked up to see the culprit; Orbot and Cubot. The two waved as they zoomed off.

"Okay, looks like said evil plan was NOW apparently, said evil plan ALSO containing stereotypical and weird… methods to somehow intimidate me." Sonic said flatly.

"I'm… not even gunna ask what just happened in the past few seconds," Vector muttered.

"Geez, Eggman's ways to scare us has gotten so bad! Yet gotten me hungry for another snack for some reason…" Charmy commented, smacking his lips.

"Guys, help me get all this crap off of me, will you?"

"Alrighty, we gotcha, Sonic." Vector and Charmy grabbed Sonic as they took him to a bathhouse down the street. After waiting for some time, Sonic emerged, looking good as new.

"OKAY, before I was interrupted…" Sonic began. "Vector, I know you're worried about Espio's safety, but think about all the risks you'd be going through finding them, only for Eggman to spit in your face and use the Emeralds to his heart's contentment!"

"I dun care, as long as it gets me Espio back, I'll go to the end of the world back if I have to. Just as long as Espio is saved…"

Sonic stared at the head honcho of the Chaotix; his friend. "Wow… Vector, I knew you cared about Espio, but I didn't know THAT much."

Vector suddenly came to a halt. He made himself repeat it in what was it.

 _"I knew ya cared 'bout Espio, but I didn't know THAT much."_

Just before the crocodile could think more about what Sonic said, he looked at his hedgehog acquaintance.

"Sonic, me and Charmy gotta ask ya a real favor. Can ya help us collect these emeralds? I know we're givin' them to Eggman but… it's to save Espio…" Vector begged.

"Hmm… you know, it's hard deciding…" Sonic said. In truth, even he didn't know what to do. The situation at hand has both a very positive, yet very negative outcome.

That was unless….

Sonic shook his head. "You know what? Sure, I'll help you guys! It's the right thing to do after all."

"Yay! Sonic's joined us now!" Charmy buzzed around the blue hedgehog. "Now we're sure gunna be better off getting those emeralds and saving Espio!"

Sonic smirked and chuckled. "Well, someone's getting excited at the thought. Don't worry, we're gunna rescue Espio, so you shouldn't need to lose sleep, Charmy."

Vector smiled as he looked up at the sky. _"Eat yer heart out, Eggman. We're gunna getcha now."_ he thought.

* * *

The sun was now beginning to set, yet no temple was in sight.

Vector slashed the large plants with a machete as Sonic and Charmy walked slowly behind him.

"Are we there yet?" The bee asked.

"N-Nope!" Vector grunted as he continued to hack at the plants.

The three were in the Wild Jungle, a location to the southeast from Station Square. As it was a jungle, there were vines all over the place, so before the three left, Vector had bought a machete for obvious reasons.

After five minutes of hacking and slashing, there was finally an opening.

"A-ha! There we go, c'mon, guys."

Vector walked through the new opening as Sonic and Charmy followed suite. The crocodile dropped the cheap machete as the three walked the paths of Wild Jungle. They passed by a lake, where Big's little shack was (he had moved there from the Mystic Ruins not too long ago).

Ending up at a split path, Vector placed his finger on his chin.

"Hmm… left or right?"

"I say right, I dunno, I always get lucky with that path," Sonic commented.

"Well, if Sonic is sure, then I'll go along with him!" Charmy exclaimed. Vector shrugged.

"Sure, right it is."

Vector, Sonic, and Charmy went along the right path.

Five minutes of walking, and a complaint from the small bee about if they had "gone the wrong way", the three stumbled across a large wall with vines atop it. Sonic grabbed a hold of one of the vines and began to climb.

"Hey, they're vines, what else do you do with them?" The blue hedgehog said.

"Sonic! Be careful! You don't know if those vines are weak!" Charmy yelled out.

"Hey, Charmy? Don't worry, I'm glad you're on the lookout for me, but I'll be fine. I think it's Vector you should be worried about."

Vector looked stunned. "H-HEY?! YA CALLIN' ME FAT OR SOMETHIN'?!"

"No, I know you're a strong guy. All that muscle makes you heavy though."

Vector rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Eh, guess yer right there."

The crocodile grasped his large hands onto the vine and began to climb. Somehow, around the midpoint, Vector was honestly surprised at how the vine had been able to hold his weight.

…until the vine could be heard starting to burst.

"VECTOR!" Charmy yelled. He had been buzzing to the top when he heard the noise.

"Grab on!"

Vector looked behind him and grabbed a hold of Charmy's leg as just as soon as the vine completely came off. The bee grunted as he tried to get himself used to carrying Vector's weight. His wings flapped and flapped as he reached around the top part of the wall. The crocodile got off from Charmy's legs and climbed onto the vine.

After not having to climb much, Vector placed his leg onto the top of the wall and got himself up. Sonic tapped his foot on the ground. He had already reached the top of the wall before Vector had, and had been waiting for him.

"There you are, I was wondering if you fell off or something along those lines," Sonic commented.

"Trust me, Sonic; I'm a main character in this story. Somethin' like that won't happen… right?"

Sonic laughed. "You might never know what happens! Oh well, let's go."

"I don't think we need to 'go' anywhere." Charmy noted. "Did you take a look at what was in front of you?"

Vector and Sonic looked behind them and saw the temple behind them. The crocodile had to wipe his eyes, and take a reality check to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Hey, ya are right, Charmy! We are here! Ya sure are payin' attention good, lil' bud."

Vector playfully nudged Charmy's arm as the bee giggled. Sonic smiled, seeing the two acting like this reminded him of him and Tails.

But there was no use in reminiscing over old memories. There was a Chaos Emerald that needed collecting, and the Chaotix members knew this too. The three jumped down onto the ground and walked around to the other side of the temple.

Unlike the last temple, which had blue markings around it, this temple had green markings around it, and had greenery growing around it. Knowing how the temple was in the jungle, and the aesthetic of it, this would have been a temple based around the forest.

Vector, Charmy, Sonic walked up the steps of the temple, and entered inside.

* * *

A dark forest was the first sight that Sonic, Charmy, and Vector first came across upon entering. Steps leading up to a higher platform also lay across from them as well.

"It's like it is an actual forest… but it's inside a temple? How do all these plants grow without sunlight?" Charmy questioned.

"There are many questions left unanswered, young one," Sonic said, trying his best to sound 'deep'. Vector chuckled at Sonic's attempt.

The three walked up the steps and saw a maze in front of them.

"Gah, I hate stuff like this…" Vector commented. Once, while having a small 'relaxation day' with Espio and Charmy, he had gotten lost in a maze for almost an hour. To this day, Espio still shakes his head over it, while Charmy teases him for it.

"Don't worry, Vector! You can stick by me and I'm sure you won't get lost like last time!" Charmy exclaimed.

"What happened last time?" Sonic asked. Vector quickly shut Charmy's mouth.

"We made a deal, remember?" he quietly asked the bee. The insect nodded.

"Good."

He let go of Charmy's mouth and tapped Sonic on the shoulder. "Let's head out," he said.

The two followed behind him, but relatively close, as they navigated the maze. With the exception of having to jump over one square that was filled with water, things were going rather smooth for the group.

That was, until something emerged from the next square of water. It was this strange looking creature (so strange that it was indescribable to the three) that was purple. Charmy recoiled back as Vector and Sonic got into a stance.

"I'll get it first, you'll come after, okay, Vector?" said Sonic.

"Gotcha!"

Sonic did a homing attack on the strange creature as it was flung back. Vector ran up and slammed it with his fists. The creature split in half as the crocodile finished it off with a fireball. The split creature was set on fire as it dissipated.

"Whoa, metal," commented Sonic.

"Can I brutally kill the next enemy we see, Vector?" Charmy asked.

"Sure, I guess."

After jumping across the square of water, the three followed the rest of the maze. They found a door at the end of the maze and opened it.

The new room in the temple was a large room. The three stood on a giant walkway, in front of two other walkways. Vector, Charmy, and Sonic looked around the room, watching the fireflies fly around. They could see the sunlight from outside shining in the room, illuminating the millennia old cobwebs and shrubs.

"Geez, this place is older than mah old tape player…" Vector commented.

"If that's the case, then you'd be older!" teased Charmy. The crocodile stared at him blankly.

"Don't patronize me, Charms."

Sonic looked over the ledge, seeing a bottomless pit.

"Well, that wouldn't be too good to fall down into," he said. The blue hedgehog jumped into the air and burst forward, getting onto the walkway on the right. The two Chaotix members looked in the direction of the blue blur.

"Come on, guys!" Sonic yelled. Charmy buzzed up as Vector grabbed onto his legs. The bee buzzed over to where Sonic, and dropped down once they reached there.

As soon as Vector saw the wall, his detective instincts told him there was something odd about it. The crocodile walked up to it and began to dig the earth with his hands (not caring if his gloves got dirty). All of a sudden, the wall collapsed, revealing a staircase.

"A-ha! Knew somethin' was here!" Vector said.

"I didn't even notice that. Nice catch." Sonic complimented.

"Yeah! That's why you're the leader of the Chaotix!" Charmy exclaimed. Vector smirked as he looked up at the staircase. The room above seemed to be pitch black.

"Imma go up first," The large green reptile said. "If I scream loudly over somethin' I see, ya know what happened. Follow behind me."

"Geez, what am I, your parent?" Sonic asked.

"He is for now!" Charmy said.

Sonic rolled his eyes playfully as he and Charmy followed behind Vector. The staircase led them to a dark room.

"W-Wha?! Who turned off the lights?" Charmy asked.

"Charmy, there are no lights on a place like this." replied Vector.

"OW! Who stepped on my foot?!" Sonic yelled.

"Sorry, Sonic."

The three looked around cluelessly, not knowing where to go. As they walked straight, a faint light of a torch was visible.

"Finally! Some light!" The blue hedgehog said. He sped off towards the torch and grabbed it. With this, Sonic saw himself in the darkness. He turned around and held out the torch.

"Guys? Where are you?" Sonic yelled out.

"Over here!" yelled Charmy. Sonic walked over to where the bee yelled out and saw Vector and Charmy in the dark.

"Light!" yelled Charmy.

"Charmy, shush! Yer bein' a bit too loud, doncha think?"

"Oh, put a can in it!"

"W-WHAT DID YA SAY-"

All of a sudden, Vector and Charmy's small little argument was interrupted by a sound in the darkness. Sonic turned around and held out the torch and saw what the source of the sound came from.

A large group of black looking spheres with eyes began to jump up towards the three. Sonic almost jumped in surprise as he began to swing the torch. He held it out towards the spheres.

"Back!"

He continued to swing the torch as the spheres began to back away. They hid in a crack in the wall as Sonic saw that the fire of the torch was almost about to go out.

However, in the distance, Sonic saw a lever in the middle of the room. Walking up to it, he pulled the lever down. Yet, it didn't seem to do anything.

"That was a waste of time," Vector commented. "C'mon, let's head back downstairs, there's nothin' left here."

The crocodile made his way back, despite the darkness in the room. It was then that a yell from Vector made Sonic and Charmy go running back downstairs.

"WHEN THE HELL DID WIND START COMIN' FROM THE FLOOR!"

The blue hedgehog and bee returned back to the crocodile to see that the room they were in had air blasting from the bottomless pit. The bee's antenna's flew in the wind as Vector and Sonic looked down.

Just then, Charmy looked up and saw a switch on the wall.

"Hey, look at that over there!" He pointed to where it was to Vector and Sonic.

"It's a switch…" Vector said.

"But we can't reach it from here." said Sonic.

"I can though!" Charmy exclaimed, waving his hand in the air. The bee dropped down into the gust of wind as Vector's jaw dropped opened.

"CHARMY! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YA DOIN'?!" he yelled.

Charmy giggled as he began to flow through the wind. The bee quickly zoomed up and hit the switch. All of a sudden, many more walkways formed by areas in the upper portion of the large room.

"Ha ha! Vector, Sonic, look at how much fun I'm having! Come on in, the wind feels great!"

Vector smiled. "Ya know what, Sonic? We should listen to the kid. Grab on, Sonic!"

"Huh, whaddya mean 'grab on'?"

Vector popped a piece of gum in his mouth and grabbed the hedgehog. He yelped. "Y-Yo! What gives, Vector?!"

The crocodile jumped into the air as he blew a bubble. The wind pulled him up into the air near Charmy.

"Ha ha, fun right?" Charmy asked.

"I-I'm just hoping this bubble doesn't bubble!" Sonic exclaimed.

The three floated in the air as they headed to the nearest walkway. Vector got on it and popped his bubble, dropping Sonic as well. He took a breather.

"Whoa… thought I was gunna fall…" Sonic said.

"Why? You scaredddddddddd?" Charmy teased.

"I dunno… gum bubbles aren't exactly what I consider methods to glide in the air…"

"Hey, no use in tryin'. Ya should give it a shot, big blue." Vector said, continuing to chew on the same piece of gum.

"Anyway, there seems to be an opening here, guys! Let's go through there!" Charmy exclaiming, pointing to the wall. Vector slid his hand against it to find a door covered by dirt. He opened it and went inside, Charmy and Sonic following behind.

* * *

As soon as the three entered inside, the door behind them locked as Vector, Charmy, and Sonic stood face to face in front of Orbot and Cubot.

"Well well well, if it isn't Sonic the EDGEhog," Cubot said.

Orbot stared blankly at his robot companion. "Edgehog? Really?"

"It's my creative word, don't steal it."

Cubot turned away from Orbot and put his attention back to the three. He cleared his throat (despite not having a physical one) and continued.

"Finally, us two shall do battle with the great Sonic the Hedgehog! Mano a mano, hand to hand!"

"Uh, you do remember we're here right?" Charmy asked.

"Oh yeah, and the Chaotix too. But you get my idea! And for my weapon… I shall bring out the ultimate of weapons… a weapon so great, that there mere THOUGHT of it gives chills down one's spine. A weapon that brings out evil greenery! I'm talking about…"

Cubot opened his case and pulled out a grass trimmer, holding it triumphantly. Orbot, Sonic, Vector, and Charmy simply looked blank at the yellow robot.

"What? What is it?" Cubot asked.

"Cubot? That's… that's a grass trimmer…" Sonic said, moving his eyes back and forth. "You know that right?"

"I know that!"

"Then why are you making it out to be this 'ultimate weapon of evil greenery' or something along those lines?" Orbot questioned.

"Look, when Dr. Eggman uses it on his grass hedge caricatures of himself, and those lone blades of grass land on me, it hurts!"

"YOU'RE A ROBOT! YOU CAN'T FEEL PHYSICAL PAIN!"

"Oh, I can't? Then tell me, can I do… this?"

Cubot slapped Orbot as the red robot's eyes turned red.

"You wouldn't…"

"Oh, bring it on…"

Instead of duking it out, the two robots began to… have a slapping fight. Vector, Charmy, and Sonic simply watched as Orbot and Cubot continued their small fight.

"What… what is even goin' on?" asked Vector.

"Beats me, your guess is as good as mine," replied Charmy.

"I'm just gunna… open that treasure chest on the other side of the room…" Sonic said. He slowly walked towards to where the chest was, passing by the two fighting robots. Surprisingly, they didn't even stop him, and the blue hedgehog grabbed the key and made his way back to the two Chaotix members.

"Let's… let's just go…" Vector said.

Before the three could leave, Cubot's voice interrupted them.

"Wait wait wait! I just realized something! Sonic is with you, Vector! He shouldn't be with you! That's cheating! It should only be you and the bee!"

Charmy snorted. "Yeah, like we're gunna listen to the orders of two dumb robots!"

Orbot moved closer to them, and strangely, his eyes began to glow red as his voice took a… sinister tone.

"Oh… we WILL tell Dr. Eggman… and he won't be very pleased that you bended the rules… As a matter of fact, he may hurt your little Espio friend. Or worse!" He began to giggle. "Mhmhmhmmmm… maybe even kill him!"

A nerve struck Vector as he turned around; giving the two robots the nastiest look he could manage. Orbot gulped.

"Was it something I said? I was being honest."

The crocodile stomped angrily towards the two as they got scared. The robots tried to run off, but Vector grabbed them by the wires that held their heads. He threw them to the wall as they fell down; The large green reptile walked over and placed his foot on both their heads.

"Now… listen GOOD… if ya even dare tell Eggman 'bout this, I won't be afraid to crush ya until ya turn into scrap! GOT IT?!" Vector spat.

"Y-Yes! Yes of course!" Orbot nodded, sounding scared.

"Please don't hurt us!" begged Cubot. Vector looked at him and got his shoes off from their heads.

"C'mon guys, let's head out." he said. Vector walked to Charmy and Sonic as the three made their way out of the room. Orbot and Cubot got up and placed their hands on their heads.

"You know, Orbot… Vector kinda scares me…" Cubot said.

"It's not just you."

* * *

"Jeez, Vector, for someone who everyone says is a gentle giant, you sure have been exceptionally violent this adventure!" Charmy said.

"Sorry, Charmy, it's just that… the whole stress 'bout this situation is really gettin' to me, ya dig?" replied Vector.

"It's understandable," said Sonic. "Having your best friend kidnapped and up for ransom, the ransom being something that could destroy the world? It's tough. I dunno what I'd do if Tails was in Espio's shoes."

"Rescue him, obviously. Like we're doin' with Espio right here."

"Didn't you tell us a story from your early days of adventuring where that happened?" Charmy asked.

"Yeah… I'm surprised that I didn't freak out over the stress at some point…"

Sonic looked down from the walkway, feeling the breeze hit his face.

"But enough about past memories, we got a Chaos Emerald to collect."

"Right ya are! And if I'm right, then it looks like the place is gunna be up there!"

Vector pointed to the highest walkway in the room.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Charmy. The bee flew into the gust of air as it pulled him in. Vector blew another bubble, grabbed Sonic, and followed suite. The three now headed up to the highest walkway and landed safely. The crocodile let go of the blue hedgehog as the three made their way up to a locked door. Using the key he collected, Sonic opened it, and went inside.

* * *

When Vector, Charmy, and Sonic entered inside, they saw the night sky above them, the stars shining brightly.

"What the? It's night already?" Charmy asked.

"We've been tryin' to find the temple all day and we went in 'round sundown, Charmy," explained Vector.

"Oh."

The sounds of fire cackling filled the room as the three took a good look around their surroundings. There were series of stone pillars on the walls, and Vector, Charmy, and Sonic were standing on a walkway of stone. In front of them, an owl sat on a pole next to a sealed door, its yellow eyes fixated on the three.

Greenery and trees covered the area as to the left, there seemed to be a new area.

"Let's see what this owl is up to. After all, it SEEMS like its guarding something" Sonic said. The three walked up to it as it hooted. It held out its foot, as if it were asking for something.

"I got nothin'," said Vector.

The owl hooted again as it shook its head. It then looked down at its stomach.

"Hang on… I think the little guy's hungry…" said the large green reptile, finger on his lip. "Charmy, give him somethin' from yer knapsack."

"Aww, Vector! Do I have toooo?" Charmy whined.

"Unless ya dun wanna get that Chaos Emerald, nope."

The bee groaned, and pulled out one of the chip bags, holding it out. Yet, the owl shook its head and hooted once again.

"Huh?" Vector asked.

"It doesn't want it…" added Sonic.

"Try somethin' else, Charmy."

Charmy then brought out one of the opened bags of candy and pulled out a piece. He held it out to the owl, but once again, it shook its head and hooted.

"Dang… this owl sure is picky… even more then Charmy whenever Espio serves vegetables…"

"Hey!" yelled Charmy.

"Just sayin'."

"Charmy's preferences about food isn't what we're focused on, guys," Sonic said. "There's bound to be something here that the owl will accept."

"What about that room we passed by?" Charmy asked. "I think there's something there!"

"If yer gut says so, let's see," replied Vector. The crocodile made his way to the room, followed by Sonic. Charmy stayed behind for a brief second, opening one of the bag of chips.

"Boy am I hungry…" he said, eating chip after chip.

* * *

When the three entered the new room, they saw a massive tree in the middle, surrounded by a meadow with a river surrounding the tree.

"We should look into that tree. I'm sure somethin's there," Vector said, pointing to the tree.

"I've got it!" Charmy exclaimed. The bee began to buzz up into the leaves as look around. For the most part, there were only leaves. Yet, as Charmy looked around some more, a brown object caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and turned to look at it.

It was a rather large, brown nut, shaped like an acorn. Charmy picked it up and looked at it for a bit. He then eventually came down, holding the nut.

"Guys, guys! I think I got what we're looking for!" Charmy said. He held out the nut in front of Vector and Sonic.

"Ya… think this is gunna work out?" Vector asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"I'm sure of it! After all, this was the only food I was able to find in that tree."

"Well, if you say so, we better give it a try." said Sonic.

The three left the room and returned back to where the owl was. This time, Charmy held out the nut as the owl began to sniff it. Two minutes later, the owl hooted and extended its arms, eating the nut from Charmy's hands as it flew off from the post. It ended up flying through the open ceiling, never to been seen again.

The bars of the sealed door that the owl had been protecting began to open up and revealed a pitch black room, the only source of light coming from the top of the stairs. Vector, Charmy, and Sonic climbed up the stairs and ended up in a very large room with some sort of plant in the middle…

 _"Wait… plant?"_ Vector thought. He wiped his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming, but as was visible; It was simply just a sleeping flower. The three looked around, not sure about what to do.

"Do we… do we fight it? I mean, there's gotta be something up. I say we burn it!" Charmy exclaimed.

"No, Charmy, we ain't gunna burn it." replied Vector.

"Let's just look around." said Sonic. The three split up and looked for a way to wake up the sleeping plant. Yet, no matter what was done, the giant was not waking up.

"Hmm… I wonder if I can tickle it…" Charmy said to himself. He dropped the rocks he had been holding to throw at the plant and looked on the ground. There, he found a feather and picked it up.

"This will do me well." he said. The bee tickled the body of the flower as it began to… rumble?

Seeing as a reaction was being given, Charmy continued, not aware that in reality, he was awaking the massive creature, and causing it to become angry by tickling it.

The room began to vibrate as all of a sudden, the plant began to slam its massive vines on the ground, and soon, pull itself from the ground. Charmy, Sonic, and Vector shot back as the plant floated above them.

"Charmy, what the heck did ya do?!" Vector yelled.

"All I did was tickle it with a feather I found on the ground!" replied the bee.

"Guys, we've got bigger things to worry about!" said Sonic. The floating plant's vines moved around as it began to spin them, rushing towards the three. Vector, Charmy, and Sonic got out of the way as it turned around.

"What is that thing anyway?!" asked Charmy. Vector pulled out the map given to him by the hooded man, hopefully getting some answers. The map was entirely blank; however, a sketch of the monster began to burn onto the map. Under the sketch, the crocodile could see the name of the beast.

 **"Man-Eating Plant**

 ** _AKUMAHANA"_**

"Akumahana… that's this thing's name…" Vector muttered.

"Its name isn't important right now! What is important is that we kill this thing!" Sonic replied.

"Yer right!"

"Well, what's its weakness?" asked Charmy, as Akumahana slashed with its vines again, causing the three to run out of the way. Vector looked back at the map as new words burned onto the paper.

 _"Weak-point: Tongue. Doesn't like having its vines hurt."_

"That's all its sayin'…" Vector said.

"So we gotta do something about those vines! Vector, you and me should take care of the vines. Charmy, sting the tongue with your stinger!"

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Charmy, pumping a fist in the air.

Vector and Sonic headed off. The blue hedgehog immediately did a homing attack on one of the vines as Akumahana attempted to slash Sonic, but failed. The crocodile spit out fire balls and threw punch after punch as he eventually grabbed a hold of one of the plant monster's vines. He began to pull on it to hopefully unleash its tongue, but it wasn't good enough. Akumahana slashed Vector as he flung back, a scar on his chest.

"Heh, yer gunna have to do a lot more then that if ya think I'm gunna be brought down that easily!"

Sonic did a spin dash on one of the vines, Akumahana roared in pain as it let out its tongue.

"NOW, CHARMY!" Vector yelled out, spitting another fire ball at one of the vines. Charmy buzzed up and readied his stinger, firing away. The stinger perfectly collided with the tongue, and Akumahana roared out yet again as the tongue began to swell.

"It's… allergic?" Sonic asked.

"Perfect! Now we got an even better chance beatin' this thing now that we know its weak point and that it's allergic!" Vector exclaimed.

The pedals of Akumahana tore off as a set of razor sharp teeth unveiled. The beast attempted to bite and eat Charmy; however the bee was too fast for him.

"Ahaha! Missed me!" The insect taunted. Akumahana grunted in annoyance as it frantically slammed its vines up and down. Vector was able to grab a hold of one of the vines in mid-slam, but was taken along with it. The large green reptile hung on for dear life as the vines of Akumahana slammed up and down.

"SONIC! MAKE THIS THING OPEN ITS MOUTH!"

"On it!"

Sonic did a Tornado Jump and spun around Akumahana. It began dizzy and fell to the ground, allowing Vector to get down and Charmy another attack. The plant monster roared yet again as it came back up. It then placed its vines into the ground, as many plants began to grow. However, as Vector could see, they were all hostile.

"Ergh, damn! This thing knows its moves well!" Vector said through gritted teeth, kicking all the plants advancing towards him.

"How are we gunna get Akumahana to show its tongue again?!" Charmy questioned.

"Good question… I'm not sure…" Sonic replied, trying to out speed the plants.

The bee looked around to see many of the plants coming his way. Vector looked shocked.

"CHARMY! HANG ON, I'M COMIN'!" he yelled.

As Charmy looked down, he could see that the plants weren't going for him, rather, his knapsack.

"Huh?" Charmy questioned. He pulled out one of the pieces of candy and all the plants in the room stopped.

"You guys want the candy? Well, GO GET IT!"

Charmy threw the piece of candy to the other side of the room as all the plants advanced towards it.

"Awh yeah! Nice going, Charmy!" Sonic complimented.

"Agreed! Me 'n Esp taught ya well!" Vector added on.

"Thanks guys!" replied Charmy. "But this thing still isn't down yet! Let's take the vines out while we still can!"

"And I got a plan!" said Sonic. "Vector, I know you're heavy, and I might give myself impairing back damage when I'm older, but I'm gunna need you to hop onto my back, and latch onto a vine, and pull it out!"

"Alright, on it!"

Vector got on the blue hedgehog's back, who was already struggling to carry the weight of the crocodile.

"Ya gunna be alright?"

"Fine, fine! Now, let's go!"

Sonic sped off, and like the blink of an eye, vine after vine was dismembered off from Akumahana. The beast roared as greenish blood spurted out from where the vine was. After half of them were taken off, Akumahana fell to the side, and ultimately, fell to the ground once the last vine was taken off. The beast continued to roar as Charmy zoomed up near its tongue.

Akumahana snapped its jaws as Charmy used his stinger, poking the tongue. It became more and more swelled as finally, the bee got the last hit. Charmy shot out another stinger at the tongue, and due to how swollen it had become, it exploded. Akumahana roared louder than it had before as the leaves of the beast began to turn brown. Its jaws closed as the plant beast began to wither away, dying from its injuries.

"Alright! We did it!" squealed Charmy, zooming around.

"Nice job!" Sonic said. He held out his hand as Vector high fived it.

"Same to ya, too!" The crocodile replied. Charmy zoomed next to Vector and gave him a high five too.

As Akumahana disappeared, the three could notice a hole from where the beast was. Sonic looked down at it, seeing a room that was shining green.

"There's bound to be something here!" Sonic said.

"The Chaos Emerald!" exclaimed Charmy.

"Yeah! Let's go get it!" replied Vector. The three went down the hole one by one as they looked in front of them. Torches illuminating a green fire aligned the wall, as much like the first temple, an altar lay in the middle. The three walked up to it to see the green Chaos Emerald on it. Vector grabbed it and held it up.

"Alright!" he cried out.

"Yay! Now we got two out of seven!" Charmy happily declared.

"I think we did a good job here today, only question is, how are we gunna get out of here?" asked Sonic.

"Give it a moment."

"Huh? What do you mean, Charm-"

A veil of light surrounded the three as it lifted them up in the air. A flash of white light illuminated the room as the three were no longer there.

* * *

Vector, Charmy, and Sonic emerged from the veil outside of the temple. The three could see it was night time, and the sky was completely covered with dark clouds.

"Man, today was tirin', but man did we get somethin' outta it!" Vector said.

"Yeah! And I bet tomorrow is gunna be the same way too!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Let's hope our luck keeps up," Sonic said, soon yawning. "Anyway, I'm tired… we should find a place to rest."

"Vector! Maybe they have another conveniently placed sleeping bag somewhere around here!"

"I dunno… somethin' tells me there ain't gunna be one…" The crocodile replied.

"Come on! I mean, what'll happen if we just stay here?"

All of a sudden, a flash of lighting struck as rain began to pour down. Charmy yelped as he hid behind Vector, due to him being afraid of thunderstorms.

"Okay… what about instead, we find a, as you put it, 'conveniently placed tent'?" Sonic asked.

Vector turned around and began to look in the bushes; however, all he simply got was more wet from the rain.

"Nope… nothin'…"

"Great! We have to r-run in this rain with a s-storm going on!" Charmy whined. Another clap of thunder boomed the sky as the bee child yelped and hid his face with his hands.

"Where are we gunna go now?" asked Vector.

All of a sudden, Sonic had an idea. "You know whose home we passed by while coming here?"

* * *

Vector knocked on the door to the small shack, hoping that Big would open the door.

"C'mon, Big… I'm freezin' mah tail off here…" Vector shook.

The door swung open as the frame of the large purple cat covered the doorway.

"Oh, hi you guys," Big said.

"No time for hellos, Big," Sonic said. "We were wondering if we can crash at your place tonight. We got nowhere else to go, and we don't wanna get stuck in the rain."

Big stared at the three before stepping aside, letting Vector, Charmy, and Sonic in.

"Thanks, man," Vector said, turning to face Big.

The cat closed the door and waddled over to the three. "You guys can sleep on the bed. I don't mind."

"Really? That's nice of you but… won't you have a place to sleep?" asked Charmy.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

Big turned to Froggy, who was silently croaking by Big's fishing poles. He rubbed the back of the frog as he picked him up.

"You should get dry before going to bed. I have a fan."

Vector nodded. "Thanks, man ya sure are bein' generous today."

"I don't get a lot of company. But I don't mind that too much. You're my friends after all."

Sonic turned on the fan as the breeze hit the three. "Well, we owe you a big one, Big."

Soon after, the three dried off, and got on the bed. Charmy hid under the covers to escape the sound and sight of the storm while Vector slept next to him. Sonic on the other hand, slept on the edge of the bed.

For some time, everyone in the shack slept peacefully, that was, everyone except Vector. He snored in his sleep and jerked about, having yet another dream.

* * *

 _A strange fuchsia colored mist surrounded Vector in a pitch black room. The crocodile could do nothing but watch, feeling a bit too afraid to run. However, once he heard a familiar voice, he knew the mist meant no harm._

 _"Vector?!"_

 _It was Espio's voice._

 _"Espio!"_

 _"Vector, listen to me, you… you have to rescue me!"_

 _"Gawsh, I didn't think that's somethin' I'd hear from ya. Normally by now I thought ya would have escaped._

 _"I've been trying to, but to no avail…"_

 _"Wait…" Vector placed his finger on his lip. "How are ya talkin' to me? Telepathy?"_

 _"I dunno, let's give it the same explanation as your conveniently placed sleeping bags-but that's beside the point! I feel that Eggman is up to something really bad, and you need to hurry up and collect those Chaos Emeralds!"_

 _"To stop whatever Egghead is doin', and to rescue yeh?"_

 _"Exactly."_

 _Vector nodded. "I'm tryin' mah best, Espio… Dontcha worry, ya WILL see me again, I promise."_

 _"That's good… oh, and Vector?"_

 _"Hm?"_

 _"There's something I wanted to tell you…"_

 _"Is there?"_

 _"Yeah… I was gunna say…"_

* * *

Vector awoke from the dream, looking around the room. He wasn't where he was in his dream, but back to reality; in Big's small shack. The large green reptile became angry and silently swore to himself.

"Dammit, Esp… what were ya gunna say?!"

The crocodile could see that the storm outside had subdued, and everyone sans him was fast asleep.

Vector lay back down on the bed as he looked up at the ceiling. He tried to fall back asleep to have the dream again, but unfortunately, to no avail.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ON EGGMAN'S SHIP**

Espio sat on the floor, attempting to meditate, but to no avail. He shook his head as he got up.

"What's the point trying to meditate if I can't concentrate?" The chameleon asked himself. He walked up to the bars of his cell and places his hands on it. The bars had become thicker due to Espio's escape last time, meaning there was no way for the fuchsia reptile to go through them.

As Espio turned his head back and forth, he noticed Orbot coming around the corner, holding a brown paper bag in his hand. The red robot soon came to the cell and placed his hand through the bars, dropping the bag on the floor.

"Here is your lunch, Espio," Orbot said. "Dr. Eggman doesn't want you to go hungry after all."

 _"Gee, thanks…"_ thought Espio.

Orbot went away as Espio opened the bag, pulling out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a small carton of chocolate milk.

The chameleon ninja sat on the floor and began to eat his sandwich.

"Peanut butter and jelly… that was Charmy's favorite thing to eat outside of anything with honey and mac and cheese…" Espio said to himself. Just thinking about the Chaotix, his friends, made him feel melancholy. The food he ate simply caused a lump in his throat as his stomach began to hurt.

He missed Vector, and he missed Charmy. He missed every little antic they had together, every little adventure, and heck, he even started to miss Vector's scolding. He missed the times they went on cases, and the times they spent at home, acting like a family.

Strange… family…

Espio hadn't seen his true family in Northern Mobius for years, ever since he left to make a new life, and coming upon Carnival Island. If anything, Team Chaotix to him was the closest to his family.

"Heh… funny… it's like we're not even Team Chaotix, we're like a family… The Chaotix family… yeah… I like the sound of that…"

Espio began to daydream as he closed his eyes.

* * *

 _Everything in sight was black and white, almost as if it were an old movie. The scene took place in front of a door._

 _The front door opened, revealing Vector, wearing a rather tight suit, and a hat._

 _"Honey, I'm home!" he said. A laugh track began to play as Vector placed his hat on a rack by the door. Just then, Espio walked up to Vector, wearing an apron and a dress-like outfit. He kissed his husband._

 _"Welcome home, dear. How was work, today?" Espio asked._

 _"Same old, same old at the office, honey."_

 _"Well I'm sure you've had a rough day today, come sit down."_

 _He began to take off Vector's suit as the crocodile sat down in the kitchen. Grabbing the newspaper, he got his reading glasses and the cup of coffee Espio left him as the chameleon walked to the laundry room._

 _"Oh, Vector, you're gunna love what I prepared you." Espio said. He grabbed a pair of mittens and opened the stove, taking out a pie. "I baked this blueberry pie just SPECIFCALLY for you!"_

 _"Did ya know? Aw, that's sweet of ya, ya know blueberry is mah favorite."_

 _Espio handed a fork and knife to his husband._

 _"And remember; bring all your stuff to the sink so I can wash the dishes because heaven KNOWS I don't have enough work to do as is! I'm just a happy little housewife after all!"_

 _Another laugh track played._

 _All of a sudden, a crash startled the two reptiles. Vector and Espio walked out of the kitchen to see that one of the windows in the living room was broken._

 _"CHARMY! WHAT DID I SAY 'BOUT PLAYIN' BASEBALL IN THE HOUSE?!" Vector yelled. Another laugh track played._

 _Charmy emerged, wearing a cap, t-shirt, and shorts. He held a baseball bat in his hands as well._

 _"Gee whillikers, sorry dad! I got carried away there!" The bee child said. Another laugh track played._

 _"I'll show you carried away! Come back here!"_

 _"Nya nya! You'll have to catch me!"_

 _A laugh track of an audience laughing harder played as the crocodile chased his son around the house. Espio simply watched as he suddenly got out cleaning utensils from his pocket._

 _"Oh whoops! Time for ANOTHER mess to clean up! As if I don't do enough of that already!"_

 _The laugh track now included people clapping as everything became black._

* * *

Espio's small daydream ended when he opened his eyes.

"Well… that was the strangest thing ever…" he said to himself. "Never would I expect myself to take the role of the stereotypical housewife, or Vector to be the father of a bee… somehow…"

Suddenly, Espio stopped.

In his daydream… he was the mother, Vector was the father, and Charmy was the child…

He was mom, Vector was dad.

Mom and dad are… lovers…

Something about that made Espio freeze, not wanting to say a word.

Before he could think about it more, the blare of an alarm startled him. Espio got up as a robot was in front of his cell.

"Prisoner 6AE4 is missing, I repeat, prisoner 6AE4 is missing!" The robot said.

Seconds later, Eggman came into view, opening the cell with a key.

"Now, where did that little chameleon rascal go?" The evil doctor said.

It was surprising to Espio that he wasn't caught, but once he got a look at himself, he suddenly understood.

He was entirely invisible, and during his daydream, he camouflaged with the wall.

Eggman had the same idea, as he eventually rubbed his hands against the wall. He soon eventually came into contact with Espio.

"Ahh… there you are…"

The evil doctor grabbed Espio, as his camouflage wore off, exposing himself to everyone.

"So, you thought you could ESCAPE that easily, huh?" he asked. "Do you forget who I am, fool?"

Eggman turned to face the robots around him. "Do as you please with him; I'm too busy to deal with him myself. Surely he would like to know what disobeying rules would cause you… right?

He began to turn away and walk away, hand freely moving. "Give him a good one for me."

All the robots on Eggman's began to attack Espio. The chameleon attempted his best to dodge continuously as he felt himself becoming weaker and weaker from the blows.

After becoming weaker and weaker physically, he began to picture a small "Save me!" plea in his mind before succumbing to hit injuries, and being knocked out cold.


	4. 3: And so join another two

**(AN: Hello hello hello again! After once again a week and a half break, I return with longness! No seriously, this chapter is longer than the last one (by probably about 1k words). Still, I hope you guys enjoy this, as we introduce two characters who are gunna help out Vector and the gang!)**

* * *

Knuckles sat in front of the Master Emerald, sitting criss cross as his arms were crossed, and his eyes closed. It was another peaceful day on Angel Island, too peaceful in fact, it made Knuckles suspicious.

"Something isn't right about today…" he remarked. The red echidna looked left and right for anyone, or anything. There was no Rouge or Eggman trying to take the Master Emerald, no unwanted guests, no one.

Knuckles shook his head and continued his daily task of guarding the Master Emerald, that was, until he heard a whispering voice.

 _"Emerald guardian… something's happened…. something's wrong…"_

"Huh? Who goes there?!"

Knuckles held up his fists, already in a stance. He was ready to attack the first thing that moved even a peep.

 _"Turn around, Knuckles the Echidna… I am not here to harm you…"_

Knuckles obliged and simply only saw the Master Emerald. The red echidna put two and two together.

"Wait… are you the… Master Emerald?!" he questioned.

 _"To an extant… yes… I am the spirit of the Master Emerald, and I have come here together to tell you about a task you must accomplish,"_ replied the spirit of the Master Emerald.

"What must I do, oh great Master Emerald?"

 _"You must help your friends again… your world is in danger from the one they call 'Dr. Eggman'…"_

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Oh great, doesn't that irritating failed science experiment ALWAYS have something planned?"

 _"Your friends, Knuckles the Echidna, are currently looking about for the Chaos Emeralds to save a friend who has been kidnapped. You must join up with them and avoid falling under Dr. Eggman's manipulative temptations."_

Realizing that something had to be done, Knuckles nodded.

"Don't worry, spirit guardian, I will not let you down… But I must ask, who are these 'friends' that are looking for the Chaos Emeralds?"

 _"That, I cannot tell you… you must find out for yourself…"_

And with that, the Spirit Guardian's presence could be felt leaving. Knuckles stared at his reflection through the shininess of the Master Emerald.

"If what the guardian said is true… then there are friends who are looking for the Chaos Emeralds… No doubt, it's Sonic and Tails."

The sound of an airplane interrupted Knuckles' thoughts as he looked up. Before he began to feel intimidated about an unwanted intruder, he could see familiar orange fur, and Knuckles knew who it was once he landed near the Master Emerald's shrine.

"Tails?" he questioned. So it seems like one of these new friends wasn't the two tailed fox as he had been led to believe…

"Hey there, Knuckles," Tails said, unbuckling his seat belt and climbing off the Tornado 2."I was testing out the Tornado 2 because I added some new features to it. So I decided to come here. Not to mention, I thought it would be nice to check up on you, you know, check around the neighborhood."

"Well, I think you came around the right time. There's something I need to tell you."

"Huh? What is it, Knuckles?"

"Okay, so… apparently, a spirit guardian of the Master Emerald began to talk to me…"

* * *

"…and that's what happened, and why I'm telling you this."

"Is that so? You know, I haven't seen Sonic at all today… No doubt, it's gotta be him looking for the Chaos Emeralds."

"What should we do then? I can't leave the Master Emerald behind…"

"I can install a mechanism that prevents anyone or anything from attempting to nab the Master Emerald!"

Tails walked over to his ship and opened a compartment that contained smaller gadgets he made. He pulled out a circular looking device and walked up to the shrine, placing it on the large green jewel. A shield formed around it as Tails turned around to face Knuckles, smirking.

"See? It wasn't that hard! Now, we should return back to the surface and try to find Sonic!"

"Alright, let's go."

Knuckles hopped onto the second seat of the Tornado 2 as Tails got in the main passenger seat, starting up the throttle. The fan of the airplane began to spin as the two tailed fox lifted off, returning back to the Mystic Ruins to his workshop.

* * *

Sonic, Vector, and Charmy walked through the exit path of the Wild Jungle, eating the "breakfast" that Vector had packed before the adventure began (oranges, granola bars, and a few boxes of 'fun sized' cereal).

As Vector held a granola bar in his right hand, he held the map open in his left, reading up on where the next Chaos Emerald location was. A dot on the map burned onto the parchment as the name of the location became visible.

 **"Mysterious Swamp"**.

"So, Vector? What's the way from this place to the next location?" Sonic asked as he munched on some cereal.

"Well, we're gunna return back to Station Square, then from there, head southeast to the Mysterious Swamp. We're not too long from Station Square," explained the crocodile.

"I hope I get to play in the mud! You know how much Espio hates it whenever I do that!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Ahahaha… no, yeah sorry, I'm still the adult here."

"Aw man…"

The bee buzzed sadly as the three continued walking the path. They finally reached the beginning of the entrance to the Wild Jungle, walked back to Station Square, and made their way to the Mysterious Swamp.

When the three entered the swamp, there was a sign in front of them, reading:

 **"MYSTERIOUS SWAMP**

 **It's a little bit mysterious"**.

"Gee, who could have known a place called the Mysterious Swamp would be mysterious?" said Charmy.

"Yeah, it's right there in the name. No point in it if you ask me," Sonic said as he held his hands behind his head, continuing to follow after Vector.

As they entered the swamp, the three had to traverse through thick mud, and murky water. When they had emerged from the last mud patch, completely dirty, they came across a sign with two arrow directions, and word carvings in the middle.

 _"I face to the east,_

 _I face to the west._

 _Only one way is correct,_

 _but choose wisely, as one timed mistake will leave you wrecked._

 _Here is a hint,_

 _the answer is in the pit!"_

"The answer is in a pit? Like an armpit?" asked Charmy. Vector looked at him and shook his head.

"No… just… no…"

"Hmm… you know, riddles were never really my big thing," said Sonic. "What does it mean by 'the answer is in the pit'?"

"That's what I'm tryin' to figure out…" replied Vector.

The crocodile placed his hand over his mouth, rubbing it back and forth. He looked to the right side and noticed that the path leading there was going down, rather than the one on the left simply going straight.

"That a'way!" he said, pointing to the right path. Vector walked along the murkiness of the swamp as Sonic and Charmy followed behind.

"Vector, can you turn your headphones down? I can hear your music from here!" Charmy complained.

"Can it, Charmy, I like givin' mahself bad headaches and most likely near deafness when I get older cause of this, might as well savor it as is!" Vector replied, yelling.

* * *

The yell coming from the farther side of the swamp startled Tails and Knuckles.

"What was that?" asked the guardian.

"I dunno… but I think I might have found our little suspect," replied the kitsune. He held a tracker for the Chaos Emeralds and pointed to three figures walking to a rather large building.

"Well, that's Sonic alright, but who are the other two? You don't suppose he's being… forced to find the Chaos Emeralds, do you?"

"It's probably not a possibility… still, we can't chance it…"

"Then let's go after Sonic and whoever those other two people are!"

Tails and Knuckles waddled faster through the swamp. It didn't make much of a difference however.

"Jeez, I hate swamps… they make you all dirty, they're wet, dirty… I dunno where I'm even going with this…" complained Knuckles.

"I know what you mean, Knuckles…"

After following the dots on the Chaos Emerald tracker, the kitsune and echidna were surprised to see a large temple in front of them. Strange purple fumes came from the side as the two stared at it.

"Some place, huh?" said Knuckles.

Tails wasn't paying attention however, because right there, he pointed to the three figures walking up to the temple's steps.

"Knuckles, it was Sonic! And… Vector and Charmy?"

"The Chaotix is involved too? But where's Espio? Surely he wasn't the 'friend who was kidnapped'. Espio's a strong guy, he wouldn't be captured that easily."

"We should ask them before they head inside!"

Tails and Knuckles began to waddle even faster through the murkiness of the swamp.

Due to the noise behind them, Vector, Charmy, and Sonic turned around to see Tails and Knuckles.

"Huh? What are they doin' here?! And how'd they find us?" questioned Vector.

"I dunno, lemme ask," replied Sonic. Tails and Knuckles walked up to the steps of the temple.

"Gee, doesn't seem like you two are doing so hot," Sonic said. "Where were you?"

"This swamp…" replied Tails. "But that's beside the point! What are you doing here Sonic?"

"And why isn't Espio with you guys?" asked Knuckles.

"Oh boy… we gotta tell 'em now, don't we?" said Vector.

"C'mon, Vector! Just tell them!"

The crocodile sighed, and looked at the two.

"Alrighty, so… it's gunna be a long story but bear with me…"

* * *

After relaying the current story to the red echidna and the kitsune, they both realized the situation at hand.

"Isn't giving Eggman the Chaos Emeralds a bad idea though?" asked Knuckles. "Think about it; you're basically giving him free power."

"It could be taken that way, but me and Sonic came up with a clever plan to counteract that!"

The blue hedgehog nervously smiled as Vector patted his back, rather hard.

"Hey, since you guys are here, you should help us on our quest to save Espio!" Charmy suggested.

"Well… I dunno… what do you say, Knuckles?"

Knuckles looked at Vector and Charmy. "You guys are old pals of mine, so I'm not gunna let you be on your own. Count me in."

"I may understand the risk, but… Espio is still a friend, and a friend worth saving. So yeah, I'm in too!"

"Glad to hear it, welcome to the 'crew'," Vector joked, grinning.

"Yay! We got more people to help us!" Charmy buzzed around all excitedly.

"Alright, Team Sonic is here!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed. "C'mon guys, we got a temple for us to handle, and a Chaos Emerald to collect."

The now five mobians walked up the steps to the temple, and entered inside the dark hole.

* * *

Entering inside the first room, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles came upon two large waterfalls gushing out purple water. Everyone immediately covered their nostrils.

"Gawd… it smells awful in here…" Vector said.

"I get it; it's a poison themed temple!" Tails said. "We should be on the lookout any poison! Under NO circumstances should we come into contact with it-"

"Geez, Tails, you're not a mom!" Charmy said. "Besides, Vector's my guardian!"

"Yeah!" Knuckles agreed with the small bee. "Quit acting like the mother I may or may not have ever had!"

"That's… a little dark, don't you think, Knux?" commented Sonic.

"Eh, I've dealt with darker stuff."

While all of this was happening, Vector was having an internal moment.

Charmy just now, referred to him as his… _guardian._

Sure, guardian wasn't the same as parents but…

Does the bee child recognize Vector and Espio as… parents?

It wasn't the first time something like that has happened. Many mobians on the street commented about the Chaotix (if they didn't know who they were), mentioning that they were a 'gay couple with an adopted child'…

Maybe he was looking too deep into it, but… something about it reminded the crocodile about it.

"Hello? Earth to Vector?"

Vector snapped back into reality upon hearing Sonic's voice.

"Did you go brain-dead or something? You weren't saying anything for like a minute!" The blue hedgehog said.

"I'm fine, I'm fine… I just… thought 'bout somethin', is all…"

"What?"

"Er, it's nothin'…"

Tails looked at the crocodile and got up close to Sonic's ear.

"It's probably Espio he's thinking about… you can't blame him though, he's Espio's best friend," The two tailed fox said.

"You're right, but we shouldn't pry on it, we should instead just go along with this temple," replied Sonic.

"Are you guys done with your bouts of inner monologues?" asked Charmy, angrily buzzing up above Vector, Sonic, and Tails.

"Charmy, when did ya learn the word monologue?" asked Vector.

"No questions! This also won't have an explanation! Let's just go forward, and that's that!"

"Alrighty…" Vector began to walk forward, muttering under his breath. _"That little brat sure is bein' bossy today…"_

The group of five made their way forward, but just before they could reach the door just a few steps away, two of Eggman's robots came down from the ceiling.

"It's Eggman's robots!" Charmy exclaimed.

"No worries, lemme at them!" Sonic said. He began to spin dash into one of them as the other came running up to the other four, lance and shield in its hand.

Just then, Charmy attacked it with his stinger, causing it to become immobilized. Vector and Knuckles looked at each other before the two power-types attacked the robot, ultimately crushing it to bits.

The two robots were downed in less than a minutes, giving the five a small time to relax.

"If Eggman's robots attacked us, then there's no doubt about it; there's more here!" Tails said.

"Tails is right, we gotta be on the lookout fer anymore of those crazy 'bots," said Vector.

Everyone nodded as they made their way to the entrance in front of them. They were on top of a walkway, surrounded by a lake of the poison water from the precious room. Four lily pads were on each direction of the poison water lake as a stationary wooden fan lay near the lily pads.

"Yuck! This place smells even worse than the previous room!" Charmy complained.

"Just cover yer nose, Charmy, that'll do you good," Vector said through a pinched nose.

"Where to first?" asked Sonic.

To the left of them, stairs that went down seemed to lead them to a door, most likely a new room. Tails suggested that it be the place in question.

The five walked over to the door and entered inside of it. The room in question seemed to be a wooden path that was blocked off by a large stone brick. More of Eggman's robots aligned the room.

"More robots?" questioned Sonic. _"Something fishy isn't going on here… right?"_

Vector and Knuckles looked at the stone block, trying to deduct if they should find another way to move the block. Ultimately, they came to the conclusion of pushing the block forward. The crocodile and echidna pushed the block as it fell down into the poison water.

The sound of a switch going 'click!' was heard as iron bars that blocked off a section to the left soon came down, allowing access for Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.

"Good work, guys! Let's continue!" Sonic complimented. The five made their way to the new path and took a right, going up the stairs. Just as they did, a large furry creature was blocking the path north. He noticed Vector and yelled. He threw the thing he held at Vector, but the crocodile was able to dodge it in time. As he pulled back, he noticed what the thing being thrown at him was; a throwing knife.

"Jeez… I didn't know people wanted me dead THAT bad!" Vector complained.

"Easy for you to say, all we gotta do is wonder; how are we gunna have to get past this guy?" Charmy asked.

Tails softly sneaked up the stairs and began to look around the room for anything in particular that could have been used to distract the guard (obviously since the five were not going to chance it having to go in head first).

"Aha!"

The kitsune pointed to a rather large grey pouch above the guard's head.

"A… spider's nest?" Sonic asked.

"That sounds cruel and evil, _and I love the idea of it…._ " Knuckles added.

"We'll need to get it down, does anyone have something I can throw?" Tails asked. No one responded. He sighed and bent down on the floor, grabbing a rather large rock from the stone stairs.

"Okay, I better make this shot count, otherwise I'm going to be a cooked fox tonight… on the count of three… one… two… three!"

Tails zoomed up, began to hover with his tails, and threw the rock where the spider's nest was. The guard threw another throwing knife at him, but Tails was able to dodge as the spider's nest came down and crashed over his head. Immediately, many upon many of little spiders, all angry, crawled over the guard as he began to scream and run around.

"AAARGH! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!" he yelled. The guard ran upstairs as his yelling continued.

"Alrighty!" Vector exclaimed. "Team Heroes, one, guard, zero! Let's move while we got the chance!"

The crocodile ran up the stairs as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Charmy followed behind. They jumped (except Charmy) onto the platforms leading to where the guard was, and headed up the stairs from where the man was screaming about the spiders.

They came across a rather dark room, yet the smell of poison and toxicity in the air.

On the side, everyone could see purple sludge crawling down sewers. Bubbles from the sludge and poison formed and popped as the five made sure to watch their step and to not fall into the poison.

"Geez, I'm probably giving myself a lot of diseases when I'm an old man…" Tails said. He covered his mouth as he looked around, making sure he didn't fall into the toxic sludge.

After the five finally crossed the dark room, they went up a spiraling staircase up, and reached the top after almost a minute of climbing.

Entering inside the opening in front of them, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles almost fell as they saw that the platform they were on was very short. The crocodile had to thank his lucky stars that he didn't tumble down; otherwise he would have had a bad fall.

"What is this place anyway?" asked Vector. The five saw three stationary platforms rather close to each other in a straight line, then various platforms moving back and forth. All the platforms looked like they were floating.

"We can jump on the first few ones, but Tails, you'll have to guide me and Knuckles from there." Sonic said. "Charmy, the same applies to you and Vector too."

"Gotcha!" replied the bee.

"I better get my tails ready, they… probably will be quite tired once we're done with this room," commented Tails.

Charmy and Tails began to fly in the air as Vector, Sonic, and Knuckles jumped onto the platforms that they could reach. After jumping onto the third stationary platforms, the two flight type children floated above the three on the platforms. Sonic grabbed a hold of Tails' legs, then Knuckles with Sonic's, meanwhile, Vector grabbed a hold of Charmy's legs.

The two began move then jump, Charmy glided with his wings and Tails with his two tails as they reached the next platform.

"Geez… I can already feel my tails getting tired…" The two tailed fox complained.

"You can do it, Tails! Don't give up!" Charmy encouraged.

"Heh… thanks, Charmy… I'll keep on trying…"

The two flight type children continued to do the same with the other platforms, glide to the next moving on, take a less than thirty second break, then continue on to the next one.

Finally, after much perseverance, the group of five finally reached the other side of the room. Tails and Charmy took a breather.

"Good work, yeh two!" Vector complimented, putting his hands over the two kids' shoulders. Charmy giggled as he playfully squirmed from the crocodile's grip.

"Let's go you guys, we can have playtime later," Knuckles said.

"Alright, alright, we're comin', Knux,"

Going down the staircase in front of them, the five saw they were back in the room with the large wooden fan; however, they were on a walkway on the other side of the room from where they started off.

Vector walked up to a switch just a few feet away from him and stepped on it. Something came down from the ceiling from him, startling the crocodile enough to fall down onto the floor. Charmy made fun of him, laughing in the air.

"I-IT AIN'T FUNNY, CHARM!" Vector yelled. Sonic and Knuckles rolled their eyes, smirking.

The large green reptile got up from the floor and walked to the edge of the walkway, seeing that the thing that came down from the ceiling were two ladders on the pillars holding up the walkway.

"Should we go down there?" asked Charmy.

"Well, we still have a door here that we haven't been through, we should check here first," Tails replied.

"It would be wise after all," said Vector. He opened the door and held it for the other four, closing it behind him after the last person, Sonic, walked through it.

They were now on yet another walkway, this time, seeing a platform surrounded by four lilypads similar to the previous room with the wooden fan and the lily pads. However, since there seemed like there was nothing on the bottom floor, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles walked along the walkway and entered a room to the right.

When they entered, the room seemed to be empty, which both confused and concerned everyone.

"Huh… I feel that something isn't too right about this room…" Knuckles commented.

"What makes ya say that, Knux?"

Just then, an echoing bellow of sorts rumbled the room as a large robot came crashing down, it was one of Eggman's top supreme model of robots; the Egg Hammer.

"Another Eggman robot?" Tails questioned.

"It's like this place is overrun with them!" said Sonic.

The Egg Hammer came rushing towards the five as they got out of the way. It smashed its hammer down onto the ground, causing it to slightly rumble.

"Geez, this robot guy is like Amy on a bad day!" The blue hedgehog joked.

"Dang, I haven't fought one of these guys in a real long time… how'd we beat 'em?" Vector asked.

"Wait until it starts to spin its hammer! It gets confused and then crashed onto the ground!" Tails explained.

"Oh, gotcha!"

"I can be bait so he can get confused!" Charmy volunteered.

"No, Charmy, let me handle it. Me and Sonic have taken care of our fair share of Egg Hammer's on our own, and I don't wanna see you getting hurt." Tails replied. The two tailed fox flew in front of the Egg Hammer and stuck his tongue out. The Egg Hammer smashed his hammer down, but Tails moved out just in time. As the large robot grasped its hammer, Tails zoomed out of the way.

"He's gunna spin!"

Tails' prediction was indeed right. The Egg Hammer began to spin around for almost ten seconds before it began to wobble. Ultimately, it came tumbling down, and Vector and Knuckles ran from where they were and began to attack the head.

"Move to the side guys!" Sonic said as he began to spin dash into it. The head took more and more hits as Charmy used his stinger to shoot a sting into the Egg Hammer's eye.

After dealing all these blows, the robot exploded as a switch uncovered itself from the floor.

"Look at what was hiding from us!" Sonic said before he stepped on the switch. He heard a noise come from the other room and looked at the door that led to it.

Going back into the previous room, the five saw that the platform on the bottom floor was now being raised up and down, allowing access to a walkway on the other side.

After the same song and dance of using Tails and Charmy to glide across with their wings, the five entered the room.

* * *

"Let's see here… do you have any… five's?"

"Go fish."

"Awh! This is the third go fish in a row!"

Cubot grabbed a card from the card pile and added it to his hand. The two small robots sat on the back of a large sleeping turtle, awaiting the arrival of the Chaotix along with Sonic.

"So, Orbot? I've been doing some wondering…" The yellow robot began. "Why is it that Dr. Eggman makes us go to these temples, and instead of getting the Chaos Emeralds here, which would benefit… THAT, he makes us have to fight the Chaotix and their friends?"

"It's rather simple, Cubot," explained Orbot, looking at his hand. "If we were to do that, then this story would not only be very short, but the reader wouldn't have any good Vector and Espio slash goodness, and with a story that advertises that, we just can't have that, now can we?"

"Yeah, when you say it that in that context, I guess it makes sense."

"Now you understand, so let's continue. Do you have any sixes?"

"Ugh…"

Cubot handed over three sixes to Orbot, who happily collected them.

Just then, the door to the room opened and Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles emerged.

"Oh, look at this, Cubot, it seems like we're going to have to cut our game a little short, because look at who has just arrived!" Orbot opened Cubot's head and placed the deck of cards into there.

"Hey, Tails and Knuckles are here!" Cubot said.

"Yeah we're here, and do you think we're just gunna stand here and have monologues about how we're going to defeat you and not even do it in the slightest?" Knuckles said.

"It'll be a much better idea to do once you figure out what we have planned for you five!" Orbot said. "Do you see this turtle that we stand on?"

The turtle's eyes began to open in a manner that showed that it was annoyed to be awoken.

"The shell of this turtle it so powerful that you cannot defeat it while it's like this! Want to know why?"

Orbot tapped the side of the turtle as it put it head inside of its shell; it began to rotate as the two robots hung on for dear life. The turtle came rushing towards Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as spikes jutted out from the side of its shell.

"AHH! WATCH OUT GUYS!" Charmy yelled. The bee zoomed out of the way, as the other four got out of the way.

"Dang it, it's too dangerous to attack him! How are we gunna beat this guy?!" Vector said as the turtle continued to spin around the room.

Suddenly, Sonic got an idea. "Knuckles! Do you remember when you used to treasure hunt for pieces of the Master Emerald?"

The red echidna turned to face Sonic. "Uhh, yeah? But what does that have to do with anything?! We literally could be seconds away from dying!"

"No no no, hear me out! You used to dig up the ground to find the pieces, didn't you?"

Everyone began to move again as the turtle came hurdling towards them.

"Yeah… again…"

"That's it! Dig under the ground, and when the turtle passes by you, it should be enough to cause it to flip on its side!"

"That is a smart idea… man… I'd never think I'd dig up the ground again…"

Knuckles held up his fists as he began to dig up under the ground. The other four began to run around the room, avoiding the attacks from the tortoise. As it crossed where Knuckles hid, Tails knew it was time.

"NOW, KNUCKLES!" yelled the two tailed fox. Knuckled popped out from the ground, fists held out as the turtle fell onto the ground, flipped. Orbot and Cubot slid across the floor as Vector came rushing towards the turtle, giving a fury of punches there, and one fireball there. Nearly a minute on the ground flipped upside down, and the turtle finally got back on its feet. Orbot and Cubot got onto the turtle's back again as it hid in its shell, and did its same attack again.

"You know the drill, Knuckles!" Charmy said. The red echidna nodded as he digged into the ground again, and everyone else avoided the attacks from the turtle. Once again, as it crossed path's where with Knuckles hid, everyone knew that would be the moment to attack.

"NOW!" everyone yelled, as Knuckles emerged from the ground. The turtle flipped upside down again as this time, Tails and Charmy got in front of Vector and Sonic.

"Let us help you!" said the two. The crocodile and blue hedgehog nodded as Sonic placed his hands over Tails' legs, and Vector's with Charmy's. The two flew up in the air and used the Thunder Shoot ability to throw Vector and Sonic at the turtle. With Knuckles running up to punch the turtle in the stomach, it was all it took for the turtle to explode, and turn into a rather small frog.

Orbot and Cubot, blown away from the explosion, simply glided over and began to look at the frog.

"…Cubot? What is…? THIS?!" Orbot stated.

"A frog, that's it."

Cubot grabbed the frog and began to pet it.

"I think I'll name this little guy, Rutherford, I like the name, don't you?"

"Argh! That's not the point! The point was that this could have been our chance to defeat these five fools, but nope! SOMETHING just HAS to stop us! There's always some sort of flaw to our monsters and such that ALWAYS prevents us from winning! I mean…"

As Orbot vented his complaints to Cubot, the door leading to a golden chest on the other side of the room opened, and the five walked towards it. Opening the door, Vector opened the chest, grabbed the key leading to the temple guardian's lair, and exited out. The crocodile, bee, blue hedgehog, two tailed fox, and red echidna sneakily made their way out from the room, leaving behind a venting Orbot, and a petting-a-frog Cubot.

"…and it's just- hey, where did the Chaotix and their friends go?" Orbot asked.

"I think they got tired of hearing you bitching so they grabbed the key we were guarding and left," replied Cubot. Orbot sighed and slapped his face.

"Sometimes I REALLY get ahead of myself…"

* * *

After returning back to the main room from the previous room with the rising platform, the five were on yet another walkway, right below there was a torch. Vector noticed a beacon of sorts in the middle of the wooden fan and got an idea.

"Guys, is there any piece of wood 'round here?" he asked.

Charmy buzzed up to the large green reptile.

"One conveniently placed piece of wood coming right up!"

"I'm not even gunna ask how ya found this, Charmy, but I ain't pryin'."

Vector reached over by the edge of the walkway and allowed the wood to catch on fire.

"Alrighty… I'm gunna need a point blank shot…" he said to himself. "HYAA!"

The crocodile threw the wood at the beacon as it lit on fire. He laughed as he jumped for joy.

"AHAAAA! GOTCHA!"

The fan began to spin as the color of the water began to turn from purple to blue. Not only that, the horrible smell that 'enriched' the temple due to the poison water was now gone, and the aroma of the room was now that of rich, clean water.

"Ahh… thank goodness, I don't have to worry about my physical health down the line now…" Tails sighed.

"Let's head across from the fan!" Sonic said. The five ran back to the walkway they were on upon arriving to the central part of the temple. They jumped (well, Charmy and Tails flew in their cases) onto the fan. Vector, Sonic, and Knuckles stumbled and almost fell as they landed onto the fan. They saw the door on the other side and knew they had to make it from there.

"Alrighty, we gotta make it over there! I'll go first," Vector said. The crocodile jumped safely across to the other side as Tails and Charmy flew to Vector.

"Knux, ya go next!"

Knuckles then jumped to the other side, and despite almost failing his jump, the emerald guardian was able to make it to where Vector and the others were.

"Sonic, yer the last one!"

Sonic, intent on making sure that he didn't fall into the water below, ran as fast as he could to make sure that his jump was far.

Unfortunately, it just so happened that even the blue blur himself can mistakes, and sure enough, he tripped and fell face first into the water. Everyone face palmed as Sonic splashed in the water.

"I'll save him," said Vector. The crocodile dived down into the water and grabbed Sonic.

"HELP! I CAN'T SWIM! I'M DROWNING!" Sonic yelled.

"Ya keep flailin' like that and of course yer gunna drown," replied Vector. When he got back on the surface, Vector beat his back to get any excess water out of his throat.

"Here, try again, this time though, don't screw it up. I'll meet ya on the top."

Vector walked up the stairs back up the walkway and jumped back onto the fan as Sonic followed suite. This time, the blue hedgehog made sure he was careful with each jump, and after some indefatigability, Sonic was able to make it to the other side.

"Well, here ya are, told ya yeh could do it!" Vector said.

"Well, we're coming close to the end of this temple, aren't we?" Tails asked.

"I think so! I sure wanna get outta here!" Charmy exclaimed.

Vector opened the door, holding it. "Well, we sure aren't gunna get out here standin' 'round, so let's head out,"

The four entered inside as Vector followed behind, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Walking into a new room, it turned out to only be a room with just a narrow hallway leading straight. Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles walked along the straight hallway as they neared the large door with a huge lock on it. Holding the key that would open the door, Vector placed the key into the keyhole and turned it. The lock came apart as the crocodile placed his hand on the door as it came down, allowing them all access.

Walking inside, the five looked around at the empty room, wondering when something would pop out.

"Come on! I'm ready to kick a few butts!" Charmy said, getting into a stance.

"Hm?" Tails said. "Guys, look up there!"

The two tailed fox pointed to the ceiling, where dark liquid to have been dripping down onto the floor. Sonic walked up to the dark liquid and sniffed it. That's when the scent of toxic hit his nostrils, causing him to throw himself back.

"Ugh, there's more toxic sludge here!" he said.

"Wait… toxic sludge?!" said Vector.

A noise pierced the room as Sonic almost ran back to where the four was, and it was incredibly lucky that he did, as just in that moment, something large fell down from the roof and came crashing down. A large splat of purple was on the floor as it inched nearer and nearer, forming into a large blob.

"Whoa! It's like a blob of toxic sludge!" Charmy exclaimed.

"What the heck is this thing? Vector, check it with the map you got!" Sonic suggested.

Vector got out the map from Charmy's knapsack and opened it up. A sketch of the blob-monster burned onto it as words formed.

 **"Toxic Blob**

 ** _POLLU-SHUN"_**

"Man, what a terrible pun," Vector commented, folding and putting the map back.

The blob moved around a bit before it splat on the ground. Tails and Knuckles hopped out of the way just in time.

The giant splat of toxic sludge began to rise up as it seems Pollu-shun now took on the form of a giant knight. Holding a sword and shield, the toxic sludge knight held a stance as it looked at Sonic, Vector, Charmy, Tails, and, Knuckles.

"Guys, move!" Sonic yelled out as Pollu-shun swung its sword onto the ground. The two Chaotix members narrowly avoided being hit by the sword as they moved to the other side. Pollu-shun turned around just seconds later.

"How are we gunna beat this thing?" Knuckles asked.

Just then, Vector looked at the right foot of Pollu-shun, and noticed that its big toe was poking out.

"Right there! His toe!" Vector said, pointing to it.

"What does his toe have to do with anything?" Tails asked, avoiding another swing from Pollu-shun's sword.

"It's the only thing protrudin' from its body! It's worth a shot anyway!"

"Alright, let me get this, then!" Sonic said. "I think it might be dangerous for you guys to attack so close, Vector and Knuckles."

The blue hedgehog began to run around Pollu-shun, causing the toxic sludge knight to become dizzy. Sonic jumped and spin dashed into the toe. Pollu-shun fell back and hit the ground as its helmet came off, revealing a large, yellow and veiny eye.

Vector and Knuckles ran up to it, attacking it with their fists as Charmy stung it with his stinger. After almost ten seconds on the ground, Pollu-shun rised back up, placed his helmet back on, and continued to attack. This time, he was successful, as when he swung his sword, it hit Tails, causing him to fly back!

"Tails!" Sonic called out, running towards his best friend. The blue blur picked up the two tailed fox.

"Tails, speak to me buddy…"

"I'm here, Sonic… I'm not dead… heh heh…"

"Phew… that's a relief…"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, just put me back on the ground and I should be good-"

"Uh, Sonic and Tails? I know yer havin' a moment of brotherly bondin', but watch out!" Vector yelled out. The two looked up to see Pollu-shun swinging down his sword. In just a split moment decision, Sonic ran just as Pollu-shun swung down its sword. He placed Tails back on the ground as the temple guardian turned around.

Spin dashing once again into its toe, Pollu-shun fell down once more as the same process of attacking the toe happened yet again.

This same cycle of attacking the beast of the temple occurred a few more times, its attacks never changed, and with the exception of Charmy and Vector then being hurt by the sword, nothing major happened at all.

That was, until after the fourth time Pollu-shun was brought to the ground. After being attacked, and Knuckles complaining that it was not dying, Pollu-shun got back onto its feet, hid the eye in its helmet, and… melted (to an extent) on the ground.

The giant pool of toxic sludge climbed up the ceiling before forming into a new shape, this time, the blob like structure it took when it first emerged.

Tails began to fly up. "I'll take care of him!" he said. The two tailed fox flew up to where Pollu-shun was and moved around a bit, trying to provoke the toxic sludge beast.

"Come on… show your opening!"

Pollu-shun thrashed about, trying to knock Tails out from the air. However, the kitsune proved a good match against it, and dodged out of the way. He was able to see some sort of crystal heart in the middle of Pollu-shun, and figured out quickly that it must have been the weak point.

Taking a deep breath, Tails flew forward and used his Tail Swipe ability to attack the crystal. Immediately, Pollu-shun roared as Tails got out of the way. He heard cheers and claps coming from below.

"Whoo-hoo! Tails, you got this!" Sonic complimented.

"Yeah! What Sonic said!" Charmy added.

Tails blushed; he never heard this kind of encouragement before. This seemed like the kind of encouragement given to Sonic while he fought the enemy of the day. But here it was, him being complimented for beating the guardian of the temple.

With new found encouragement and motivation, and not to mention, determination, Tails flew closer to Pollu-shun.

"Alright, buddy… it's time to end things! And what better way, then in style?"

As Pollu-shun thrashed once again, his opened unveiled as a twinkle formed in Tails' eye. He held out both his fists and began to fly as fast as he could towards it. In just one quick sweep, Tails zoomed through Pollu-shun's chest, past the crystal heart, and emerged from the other side. Droplets of toxic sludge came out from the beast as it thrashed about again before falling onto the ground.

Tails flew down back to Sonic, Knuckles, Vector, and Charmy, who all ran up to him.

"That was amazing, lil' buddy! You did such a good job!" Sonic said, ruffling the head of his best friend.

"Agreed, man ya sure are somethin'!" Vector patted the kitsune's back.

"Not even I could do something like that!" Charmy exclaimed.

"You are getting stronger day by day. Keep it up! Because who knows? You might even one day be as strong as me." Knuckles said, smiling.

Tails smiled harder than he ever had before from the compliments from his friends. He felt so loved in that moment. If only his younger self could see him now…

"Guys, I know the subject matter is me, but take a look at the temple guardian!"

Pollu-shun formed into a pillar as the lighting of the room became purple. The five walked up to the newly formed pillar and saw a shining purple Chaos Emerald. Vector grabbed it and held it above his head.

"Three outta seven, we're gettin' there!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, good job to us!" Charmy said, buzzing around.

"Heh, you guys did great for your first temple," Sonic complimented to Tails and Knuckles. The blue hedgehog put his arms around the back of the two's necks and grinned.

"We all helped out, didn't we, Knuckles?" asked the two tailed fox.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll still be here helping you guys collect more Chaos Emeralds and save Espio." replied the red echidna.

"So, now that THIS is out of the way… how are we going to get out of here?!"

"Wait," was all Sonic said. Just a few seconds later, the same veil of light that appeared in the last two temples emerged and engulfed the five, warping them out of the temple.

* * *

The veil of light flashed yet again as Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were now outside the temple. Just before the group could make their first few steps down, a voice stopped them.

 _"You're doing well, Vector the Crocodile…"_

Vector and co turned around to see the hooded man, the same hooded man on the train back to Station Square from the first temple. The crocodile and bee got into a stance as Team Sonic looked confused.

"Uh, guys? Who is this?" asked Sonic.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Sonic," replied the large green reptile.

 _"You and your gang of friends have been doing a fine job collecting the Chaos Emeralds, however, I will warn you; the path from here will only get much more difficult. The temples and the enemies you will face will be much stronger and harder than ever before, so prepare yourselves physically and mentally."_ explained the hooded man.

 _"However, since you have your friends, you should find you and your bee partner having no trouble. And on that note, Dr. Eggman knows that you bended the rules about not letting Sonic know about this. However, he was expecting it."_

Something about what the hooded man said made Vector freeze and stop for a moment.

"Wait a minute… how the heck does Eggman know Sonic, Tails, and Knux are with us?!"

The hooded man was gone.

The two Chaotix members looked around for any sight of the hooded man, but… it was like he just disappeared.

"Guys, did ya see where he went?" Vector asked. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles shook their heads.

"We don't know… we were simply looking down at the floor and bam…" The blue hedgehog explained. "Never mind that, who was that?"

Vector sighed. "The guy who gave us the map, me 'n Charmy saw him on the train back to Station Square after we got the first Chaos Emerald. Other than that, we dun know him."

"Vector… I'm scared…" Charmy said. "The hooded man said Dr. Eggman knows that Sonic's with us… what if he's hurt? What if something's bad happened to him because of that?"

Vector could see that tears were now rolling down Charmy's face. He wiped them off and placed a finger over his lips.

"Shh… it's gunna be alright, Charmy… I'm sure Espio is alright. Remember; he's a strong guy, he can fend for himself. I'm sure he'd wantcha to be strong for him, like in the beginning of this crazy lil' adventure… can ya do that?"

"O-Okay…" Charmy nodded. While his crying ceased, fear was still visible in his face.

"Guys, it's almost night time. We should really head back to Station Square because heaven knows what kind of creatures come out here at this time of night!" Tails said.

"Alrighty, Tails, gotcha. C'mon, Charmy, let's go."

Vector took Charmy's hand as he led him out of the swamp, Team Sonic following behind them. Yet as they did, Knuckles got in between the two.

"Hey, I dunno if it's just me but… did Vector act like a dad towards Charmy back there?"

* * *

Finally arriving towards Station Square, the five watched the sunset from the pier.

"Reminds me of the whole Dark Gaia thing…" Sonic said.

"Yeah, THERE'S an adventure worth recollecting." replied Tails.

"Oh yeah, that lil' adventure ya told us 'bout. Always wanted to know what a werewolf version of yerself would look like…" said Vector.

"Just imagine me with more hair, your body structure, spiked cleats, claws, and dog traits. There you go."

"Well, all mah answers have been solved."

The five continued to stare at the sunset, which by now, had completely went down, before Tails spoke up.

"Hey uh, so we were in a swamp, and that temple pretty much the whole day," he began. "I'm pretty sure we stink more than Dr. Eggman on a bad day. We should find a place to take a bath and to rest for the night."

"If any of ya suggest a hotel, one of yeh guys is payin', NOT me!" Vector replied.

"There's no need to, we can stay at Angel Island for the night," Knuckles said. "The water there would be perfect for getting rid of the day's grime and dirt."

"Yeah! Let's have a sleepover at Knuckles' island!" Charmy exclaimed.

"It's not like that, kid. Sorry to break it to you…"

"Aw…"

"Tails, where did you keep the Tornado 2? We should find it in order to get onto Angel Island."

"It's back at the workshop. Don't worry; I can pick you guys up from here! Just give me less than fifteen minutes!"

Tails ran off to the direction of the Train Station, leaving behind Vector, Charmy, Sonic, and Knuckles.

* * *

Just as he predicted, Tails came flying down with the Tornado 2 and picked up the four. He began to fly the plane back up into the air and set the course for Angel Island.

After arriving, the five bathed in the hot springs and waterfalls of the island. Vector relaxed his aching muscles in the warm mineral springs as he heard Charmy and Tails splashing around in the waterfall nearby (Sonic and Knuckles had already finished bathing, obviously since the blue hedgehog was no longer screaming and Knuckles wasn't heard trying to hold his friend down).

The crocodile sighed and threw his head back. He didn't really know how tired he was until he started to slightly doze off for a minute. Vector awoke in a flash, shaking his head.

"Whoa… and here I was thinkin' that I still had energy left in me… guess I thought wrong…"

After bathing himself, Vector dried off by shaking himself entirely from head to toe. Water dripped down his muscular chest and down his body as it fell onto the floor. The large green reptile stretched before grabbing his 'clothing', putting it on, and heading out of the general hot springs vicinity.

Once everyone was done taking a bath, everyone met Knuckles by the Master Emerald shrine.

"Where are we gunna sleep?" asked Sonic.

"Usually I sleep by the Master Emerald, but since I'm sure you guys aren't accustomed to that, I've gathered these for you guys."

Knuckles held out four giant leaves and handed it to Vector, Charmy, Sonic, and Tails.

"You guys should sleep under these. Don't worry, they should all fit you, and they're rather warm too."

"I'll say, it feels cozy and snug already!" said Charmy. The bee got onto the floor and placed the leaf over him. "Yup, DEFINITELY cozy and snug."

"Well, as much fun as today was, we probably should get some sleep," said Sonic.

"Yeah, Sonic's right. In the mornin', right after breakfast, we should head out and start on findin' that fourth Chaos Emerald."

"Heh heh, hey Sonic, if only Shadow were here, he'd tell us where that _damn_ fourth Chaos Emerald would be," Tails joked, referencing a certain line said by the black hedgehog.

"As funny as the reference was Tails, you're like, eight or nine, you shouldn't cuss." scolded the blue hedgehog.

"Oh, come on! I'm a growing boy! I'll have you know that-"

Tails continued to rant as Sonic placed his hand over the two tailed fox's mouth.

"The little boy has to go to sleep, you all should too."

Sonic took Tails to another part of the Master Emerald Altar, jokingly saying from afar "You know I was playing, bro, you little scamp…"

Vector yawned. "Well, Sonic is right, we should be headin' off to bed, night, Knux. Don't guard the Master Emerald all night."

Knuckles grunted as Vector got under his leaf and began to drift off to sleep. However, it wasn't too far into his rest that he began to mumble and twitch in his sleep.

* * *

 _Vector ran down a dark hallway, looking back and forth._

 _"Still no sign of Espio… damn…" he said._

 _As the crocodile continued to run straight, he noticed a lone door sitting by itself. He smiled._

 _"That must be where he is!"_

 _Excited, Vector opened the door._

 _"Espio, I'm here to-"_

 _He stopped._

 _Vector almost had to hold back a scream when he saw what was on the floor._

 _On the floor was Espio's dead body, throat slit, but no blood._

 _The crocodile wanted to vomit, look away, anything to respond to the horrifying sight in front of him._

 _That was, until he heard a voice._

 _"Vector…"_

 _He looked up to see Espio. However, he was entirely translucent… almost as…_

 _"Yes, Vector… I am the spirit of Espio…"_

 _"What the… how the heck did ya read mah mind, Espio?"_

 _"Don't ask questions, it's a dream okay?"_

 _"Oh, yeah I gotcha."_

 _"Anyway… Vector… why didn't you save me?"_

 _"W-Wha?"_

 _"You **heard** me, why didn't you save me?"_

 _The tone of Espio's voice became harsher. Vector tried to come up with words but couldn't._

 _"Typical…" spat out Espio's spirit. "Someone as lazy and laid back as you couldn't even be bothered to save their own best friend. Look at what said friend has become now, nothing but a corpse. And it's YOUR entire fault."_

 _"E-Espio, n-no! Yer still alive!"_

 _"Oh, but am I really? You might not know that…"_

 _Vector sat on the ground, bringing his knees up close to his snout._

 _"Look at yourself… pathetic… you never amounted towards anything, Vector… You always were a lazy twit who cared more about himself than he did others. Always caring about 'money' or some other pointless nonsense…"_

 _"S-Stop it!" Vector cried out. It pained him having to hear Espio say things he would probably never say in real life._

 _"Oh, I'm sorry, is the truth getting to you? Face it, Vector, me and Charmy are only a part of your team because we feel sympathy towards you, sympathy that a cheapskate such as yourself can't even fend for himself to survive, so this is why we help you. If we could, we'd leave you all by yourself and see how far you get."_

 _Vector's knees turned into jelly as he shook. Knowing his masculinity, he was supposed to argue and fight back with this rather rude variation of Espio, but… he couldn't. He felt weak and powerless hearing every word coming out of his mouth._

 _The smile on Espio's face grew more sinister. "Do you see yourself now? For someone who claims they're all strong and brawny, you look pitiful right now…"_

 _"Stop… Espio just... stop…"_

 _"What's wrong? Can't handle what I'm saying?"_

 _Vector placed his hands over his headphones to block out everything._

 _"You were never good you no good lazy crocodile!"_

 _"I never cared about you, nor does Charmy."_

 _"I wish I never met you, I would probably be happier that way."_

 _"I'm sorry but… I hate you…"_

 _"Just shut up…" moaned Vector._

 _"Even seeing the sight of you gets on my nerves!"_

 _"I don't want you in my life…"_

 ** _"Shut up…"_**

 _"There's no way we can be friends, goodbye…"_

 _"Who would want to be friends with you?"_

 _Vector growled as he gripped his headphones, eyes closed as he yelled as loud he could._

 ** _"PLEASE, CHAOS SHUT UP!"_**

* * *

Vector awoke from his frightening nightmare, chest puffing heavily as his eyes were wider than ever before. He looked at his hands and sighed, putting them up to his eyes.

"Oh thank Chaos… it was just a dream…" he quietly said to himself.

The crocodile heard shifting behind him and turned around, seeing Charmy shift in his leaf. The bee popped his head out from it, looking incredibly sleepy.

"V-Vector? Was that you making all that noise?" Charmy asked. The large green reptile nodded.

"Y-Yeah… just, go back to sleep, Charmy. I'm real sorry if I woke ya up." he replied.

"Well… okay… Vector… are you feeling okay?"

Despite still being able to remember the nightmare, he didn't want to worry the young Chaotix member. Vector got up, and rubbed Charmy's head.

"I'm fine, don't worry. Just... get some rest, okay?"

"Okay…"

Charmy got back under his leaf as Vector walked right next to the Master Emerald, seeing Knuckles asleep near it. He sat down on the edge of the Master Emerald altar and looked at the sky.

 _"So… you must be the one who is collecting the Chaos Emeralds to save your friend. It is nice to meet you… Vector the Crocodile…"_

Vector became alarmed, getting up. Who was that? And how did he know his name? Before long, the strange voice seemed to… chuckle.

 _"There's no need to become hostile, I have no physical form. Well, to an extent I do…"_

"Who are ya?"

 _"Look behind you…"_

Vector turned around to see the Master Emerald. No one was talking to him telepathically, or standing in front of him.

Or… maybe…

It couldn't have been…

 _"I can see your internal thoughts, and I shall debunk them for you: yes, I am the spirit of the Master Emerald."_

Vector's eyes grew wide. "So… yer the Master Emerald itself?"

 _"Yes… Vector the Crocodile… I can see in your mind distress and worriment, most likely caused by the nightmare you had. Is this correct?"_

"Much like plenty of things, I ain't gunna question how ya know 'bout the nightmare I had, but yeah."

 _"Do not worry, young soul, your friend Espio is still alive. That creation of Espio made was a false being created by your imagination. It was made to taunt you and to lose your determination by posing as the friend you have lost."_

"Espio's okay? Oh, thank Chaos…"

 _"Yes, he also worries about your safety, so do not think he has become what he was in your nightmare."_

"Well, now that I got some assurance that Esp's okay, I think I can go back to sleep…"

Before Vector could walk off, the spirit of the Master Emerald spoke again.

 _"Yet… there is something bothering you about Espio on the inside."_ It said. Vector turned around.

"Huh? What didja say?"

 _"You may try to bury it, but I can see it in plain sight."_

"See what? Tell me!"

 _"You must discover it for yourself, Vector the Crocodile. And when you do discover what it is, you'll have to see and find out for yourself if he feels that way."_

"H-Huh? Feels… what the? What on earth are ya goin' 'bout?!"

Vector was surprised that he hadn't woken anyone up.

 _"I have nothing else to say, as I said, you should discover it yourself. You should go to bed now."_

Grunting, Vector turned away. He was mad that the spirit of the Master Emerald wasn't going to say what he meant, but as it said, he had to 'find it out for himself'.

And what did he mean if Espio 'feels the same way'?

Shaking his head, Vector got back under his leaf, and began to drift off to slumber land.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ON EGGMAN'S SHIP**

Espio dragged the rock against the wall as he counted the ticks on the wall.

"Three days…" he said.

On the wall, written with the rock he held, there was a chart he made entitled "DAYS SINCE EGGMAN TOOK ME", with three tick marks under the title. The chameleon threw the rock away and put his head on his arms, sighing. Three days since Eggman kidnapped him and held him up for ransom. Each hour felt like it took forever, constant fear and anxiety over the well-being of his friends, and that was just the gist of things.

Hoping to move around a bit, Espio got up and placed his hand on the wall, attempting to lean on it.

However, as soon as it made contact, the wall began to spin as Espio looked dumbfounded. Had he found a secret passageway that Eggman overlooked? The fuchsia reptile looked at the secret passageway before turning around; making sure no one was coming his way. Once he saw the coast was clear, Espio went through the secret passageway, shutting it behind him.

The chameleon ninja sneakily walked through the dark corridor, walking for around fifteen seconds before coming across another wall. He pushed it and saw this was also a shortcut to another room. Entering inside, he looked around, and realized where he was.

He was in Dr. Eggman's main quarters.

Espio looked around, seeing all sorts of blueprints for robots (one of which being a future E-series robot) and badniks. Files about Sonic and his friends, a diagram of the Chaos Emeralds, a framed picture of Gerald Robotnik and Maria, and so many more things that it felt like the chameleon needed one hundred pairs of eyes to see them all.

He walked over to Eggman's desk, seeing a file for something. Espio picked it up and began to read it. It was when he read more and more into it that he felt like his eyes were going to pop out.

"So… THIS is what he meant by his 'ultimate project'…"

Just then, the doorknob began to turn.

Espio nearly screamed. He dropped the file on the desk and quickly used his ninja stealth, tip toeing out of the way. The ninja saw Dr. Eggman come into the room, walking over to his desk and sitting down on it. He read over the file about the 'ultimate project', then placed it back in his desk.

"I'm feeling rather hungry… perhaps I should get Orbot and Cubot to make me a sandwich… No, the kitchen is rather close, I can do it myself. Besides, those two would probably end up making something wrong anyway."

Eggman got up from his chair and walked back to the door, exiting his office. Espio undid his ninja stealth.

"I have to get out of here; it's too dangerous for me to still be here and not in my cell."

The fuchsia reptile made his way back to the secret passageway, and back to his cell.


	5. 4: Enter the Pink Hero and her Hammer

**(AN: Hi everybody! Sorry for a minor delay, I probably could have gotten this fic done sooner, but I was busy working on the collab fic I was working on, _A Joint Vow,_ which recently finished! I suggest you guys go check it out, as I had a lot of fun writing it with the author of my fav Vecpio fic!**

 **But anyway, it seems that things are gunna get tense now that we're gunna reach the fourth temple! This also means we're half way there! What does this spell for Vector, Charmy, and the gang? Read and find out!)**

* * *

"Rise and shine, everyone, we have important business to take care of!"

Knuckles clapped his hands as he walked around the four leafs. Vector groaned and turned on his side.

"Knux… it's too goddamn early… let us get some sleep will ya?"

"Oh no, we gotta make sure we're prepared, and ready to go if we want to find the other four Chaos Emeralds. So wake up everybody! Chop chop!"

The four got up from their leaves, looking tired from having to be woken up.

"Well if that's what you say, first, we should get off from Angel Island then…" commented Tails, yawning.

"Breakfast?" asked Charmy.

"It looks like we might have to skip it today, Charmy," said Sonic. The bee looked saddened.

"Well, Tails, start up the Tornado 2 and let's head back to Station Square," said Knuckles. The two tailed fox walked over to the airplane and fired it up, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, and Knuckles following behind. Tails got into the pilot's seat as the other three got into the passenger seats on the side (Sonic on the flaps as usual).

The Tornado 2's propellers began to rotate as the plane began for takeoff. The Tornado 2 came off the ground and into the air as Tails made his way back to Station Square.

* * *

Upon arriving, Tails landed the Tornado 2 in a barren parking lot.

"I'm sure nobody will complain… or try to wreck and vandalize it…" He commented. Tails got off of the pilot's seat as Sonic followed suite, then Vector, Charmy, and Knuckles.

As the five entered Station Square, they noticed large crowds gathered around the many stores selling televisions. Suspicious, it was Vector who suggested they check it out.

"This isn't going to be one of your detective cases, is it?" asked Sonic.

"Hey! I resent that! But in all seriousness, still, we never know. Dontcha wanna know why everyone's crowdin' 'round a bunch of TV's?" replied Vector.

"You may never know, something may be going on. You know, like sports, a movie, live event," suggested Tails

"Ya really think I'm crazy fer suggestin' that?"

Team Sonic looked around and whistled, pretending like they didn't hear his question. Vector sighed.

"I think your idea is good, Vector!" said Charmy.

"Haha! See? Someone agrees with me!"

Knuckles sighed. "Alright, we'll check out the TV's,"

The red echidna walked with the crocodile and bee as the two tailed fox and blue hedgehog followed behind. They walked to the nearest crowd and tried to look on at what was going on. However, not only was there a large crowd blocking the way, they were all… silent.

"What's goin' on?" asked Vector.

The large green reptile then faintly heard a voice, a voice that sounded… oh so familiar to him.

And then, the billboard advertisements above went black. Everyone took note of this and turned around to face the biggest one in Station Square.

That's when Dr. Eggman's logo popped up on screen.

Vector growled. "I knew it… somethin' really was goin' on…"

The evil scientist popped up on the screen, right behind a bright blue background with his name scrolling in all ways.

"Greetings citizens of Mobius! How are you?"

There was mere silence. Even if it was a pre-recorded transmission, no one bothered to say anything.

"I hope you're doing well because these next few days will be the last ones you have here on this planet!"

It cut to a shot of his airship and armada. "Right now, my airship and army is set course for Station Square, and we're to arrive in three days!"

"Three days?" Sonic felt horrified. Now he and his friends _really_ had to hurry up in finding the Chaos Emeralds.

"Don't think my army and ship won't be brought down easily in the air! With advanced technology, it is near impossible to shoot it down! Not like it will happen, after all, I have plans for… _big_ destruction…"

The five simply looked at the screen, not saying a word, or displaying any emotion.

It then cut back to Dr. Eggman, looking ominous.

"Feel free to enjoy your last few days… I think it'll rather be short-lived… Mhmhmhm… ha ha ha, OH HO HO HO HO HO!"

The screen turned to static as the advertisements returned, and what seemed like the TV's all returned back to normal programming.

"Guys…" Sonic said. "Things are getting real tense now…

"I agree… I mean, three days?!" replied Knuckles.

"Funny, isn't that the amount of time Eggman told ya guys yeh had during the whole Metal Overlord thing?" asked Vector.

"Yeah… we had a lot of time to spare, but this… we'll need to _REALLY_ hurry up if we want to collect four Chaos Emeralds in three days."

"Sonic's right! We should start to search, Vector, what does the map say?" asked Tails. Vector pulled it out of Charmy's knapsack and opened it up. To the south of Station Square, a location burned onto the parchment as its name came up.

 **"Blazing Volcano"**

"A fire place huh?" asked Vector. Immediately, Charmy looked scared.

"F-Fire? I don't like fire, Vector…" he said.

"Dun worry, ya won't burn up or spontaneously combust. I'll both promise ya, and make sure of that, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Come on guys, we should head out there first," Sonic said. Just before the five could make their move, they heard a voice in the distance. A far too familiar voice.

 _"Soniccccccc! I found youu!"_

"Oh no, NEVER MIND what I just said about heading out there first… Look at who's coming,"

Amy was running up to the group, coming closer and closer. As soon as she came up to them, she immediately glomped Sonic, hugging him tightly.

"There you are! I've been worried about you lately!" she said, making her grip tighter.

"Don't worry, Amy, I'm… *koff*, okay, now can you let me go? You're squeezing me real hard!"

The pink hedgehog let go as she turned to face the other four.

"Oh, hey there Tails and Knuckles! You too, Vector and Charmy! Say you guys… where's Espio? If Vector and Charmy are here, then surely Espio would be too…"

The five looked at each other, biting their lip.

 _"How many times have I told the story to mah friends?"_ thought Vector.

"Well… the reason Espio isn't here is well… here, lemme just tell ya what's goin' on. Yer gunna have to keep still, this is gunna be a long story."

"Vector? What happened to him?" asked Amy.

"Alrighty… so…"

* * *

Finished recalling the story to the pink hedgehog, her mouth was wide open.

"That isn't good! I'm… worried about Espio's safety… and it doesn't help with what happened. Did you guys see Dr. Eggman's message on the TV's?" she said. Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles nodded.

"Now that you've told me that Vector, I've got two things to worry about; Espio, and what Eggman's going to do…"

"You shouldn't have to worry, Amy. We're getting this situation taken care by collecting the Chaos Emeralds." Tails said.

"I know, and that's good, but still… I don't want live in fear for these next few days…"

Sonic sighed. "Amy… I am probably going to regret asking this but… if you don't want to live in fear about our safety, Espio's safety, and you wanna stop Eggman from carrying his plan… we always can expand our little group."

The pink hedgehog's eyes grew wide. "S-So… you mean?"

"Would you be willing to join us?"

Amy smiled, and rushed up to hug Sonic once again.

"You don't even need to ask me twice! Of course I will! I'll do it to get closer to you of course… but I'm also joining because I'm Espio's friend, and I care about him."

Sonic rolled his eyes at the mention of the former. _"Great… is it bad for me to say that I ALREADY regret my asking of her joining us?"_

"Yay! Amy's joining us!" Charmy buzzed.

"Anyway, guys," she began. "I came to Station Square because I was thinking of having a doughnut for breakfast. You guys wanna join me? Or you already ate?"

The four perked up, sans Knuckles (who didn't eat confectionery, or to an extent, sugar in general, but only very very rarely). Charmy rushed up to Amy's legs and looked up at her with big bug eyes.

"Yes." he said. Amy giggled.

"Well, if Charmy's saying yes, and seeing that you guys probably haven't ate yet, come on."

Amy began to walk to the nearest bakery as the five followed behind her.

* * *

After a breakfast of doughnuts (or in Knuckles' case, just milk), the six made their way out from the bakery.

"So, where are we going?" Amy asked.

"We're headin' off to the Blazin' Volcano, that's where the fourth Chaos Emerald should be," replied Vector.

"Well okay then! Lead the way, Vector!"

The crocodile did just that, and the group walked all the way from Station Square to the main area of the Blazing Volcano. They were going up a slanted trail that would lead to the volcano itself, having a hard time to cross as the trail was very steep.

"My legs feel like jelly…" Tails complained.

"You can do it, Tails, don't give up!" encouraged Knuckles.

Just then, a jeep drove by, and the window to the car rolled down. From it, a large, masculine and sturdy looking bear with a hat and vest on poked his head out.

"Hey, are you six heading up to the volcano?" he asked.

Vector, due to being the oldest in the group, therefore the one responsible and in charge, walked up to the man.

"Yes, we are. Do ya need anythin'?" The large green reptile asked.

"Well, I can see you're all tired by walking up this. It does it to anyone who walks up there, don't worry," he chuckled. "I was heading up this because I'm actually the ranger who patrols this area. Say, would you like a ride up to the volcano? I would be willing to give you one."

"That's kind of ya sir! Sure. C'mon guys."

Vector got into the car as the other five did, the crocodile taking shotgun, Charmy in a seat by himself, then Tails, and then Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles in the back. The bear ranger put his foot down on the gas pedal and began to drive upwards.

"I'm Ranger Ken by the way," he held his hand out.

"Vector the Crocodile."

The two shook hands as the car slowly went up the slope.

"So tell me, Vector, what's a guy like you and your friends doing heading up a trail to a volcano?" asked Ranger Ken.

"Well, if ya can believe it, we believe there's a temple in the volcano that has one of the Chaos Emeralds, and we're here to get it," replied Vector.

"Ahh… I see, I've heard about those little Chaos Emeralds, but never seen one in person. Why do you need it?"

Normally, Vector wouldn't be willing to share too much information with people he didn't know, but Ranger Ken seemed trustworthy enough. So, he continued.

"Mah friend was taken hostage by Dr. Eggman, ya know him?"

"That I do, that evil doctor that Sonic the Hedgehog always beats."

"Well, Sonic's actually here if ya can believe it."

Ranger Ken turned around to see Sonic in his seat. The blue hedgehog softly waved.

"Well, it's a sight to see you here, Mr. Sonic! Along with the rest of your friends, all of you! Heh heh, I'll be honest, I didn't pay too much attention to what you all looked like, so I didn't recognize you at first."

Ranger Ken gave a smirk as he looked back at the road. "Heh, you know, Sonic, my little boy talks about you all the time, saying that he wishes to be as cool and as fast as you. Chaos bless him…"

"Hey, what can I say?" Sonic said. "I just leave that impression on people,"

"Ha ha! Ah, I can see why my son really looks up to you."

"That's my Sonic for you!" said Amy. The blue hedgehog in response looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Anyway, Vector, your friend was kidnapped by Dr. Eggman, and you need the Chaos Emeralds because?"

"He's holdin' him up fer ransom, the demand bein' the seven Chaos Emeralds." replied the crocodile.

"Yikes… sounds rough… How many of them do you have?"

"Three."

"Well, it seems like you and your friends are on a good track. I'd say you're halfway there."

The jeep made a turn to the right and continued to drive upwards.

"Um, Ranger Ken? If I may ask, why do you wish to know about our adventure?" Tails asked.

"Well kiddo, not like I'm working for Dr. Eggman himself, aren't I? Heh heh, in all seriousness however, it was a spur of the moment question, and besides, knowing that announcement Dr. Eggman made on the radio, I know you guys got this."

"So you heard it too?" Charmy asked.

"Yup," He sighed. "Shame really… I was thinking of having a picnic here that day with my wife and son. Looks like instead, I'll probably spend the day protecting them from whatever Dr. Eggman has planned."

"Sounds to me you would go far to protect them," said Knuckles.

"Why wouldn't I? Them two mean the world to me. I'm sure we all have someone we would go far to help out."

Vector looked down and thought about what Ranger Ken said. He himself had been going far to get the Chaos Emeralds to save Espio, getting not only himself but Charmy, and their friends into danger and near-death instances in order to rescue the chameleon.

Thinking about Espio made Vector's heart ache, so he didn't want to think about it anymore.

"So, Ranger Ken, how far left until we reach the tip of the mountain?" asked Sonic.

"Err, I'd say abouttt… another five minutes from now. Until then, just sit tight, and enjoy the view."

Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy sat back in their seats, and followed what the bear said. Surprisingly, they found inner peace looking at the beautiful scenery, as well as seeing the volcano loom in the distance.

"Heh, if it were winter, this place would be more exciting," said Ranger Ken. "People come from all over to ski and snowboard down the volcano and the hills here. I'll even admit I once went with my son, and oh boy, the yelling my wife gave me when she found out."

Taking a left, the jeep drove up yet another path as once it reached the top, the earth was entirely flat. They had reached the base of the Blazing Volcano. Ranger Ken parked the car as the six got out from it.

"Yo, thanks fer the ride, Ranger Ken," thanked Vector.

"Don't mention it, Vector. It was nice to meet all of you." responded Ranger Ken.

"It was nice to meet you too, Ranger Ken!" Charmy exclaimed. "I hope I meet you again!"

"Heh heh, I hope I'll see you again too. Who knows? Maybe I'll bring my son so he can have a new playmate."

Ranger Ken chuckled as he started up the car again.

"Well, I'll be off now, you six have fun finding that Chaos Emerald, and stay safe! I don't want to have to find out the volcano erupted because of you all!"

The jeep went in reverse as it went down the trail, the six watching as the car drove off into the distance.

"Well, that was a thing," Knuckles said. "Still, that guy seems like a nice person."

"Let's just head down the volcano, shall we?" said Vector. The six looked around the opening of the volcano and found that on the other side of the walkway circling the volcano's opening, there was a path that leads down, and into a cave. Walking along the circular path, they made their way downwards and entered inside the cave.

Upon walking in, they saw two sets of stone pillars against the wall, and nothing else.

"Hm? There doesn't seem to be much here…" commented Tails.

 _"Do not be fooled by what you see…"_

"Huh? Who was that?" asked Amy.

"That voice… it can't be?" said Sonic.

"I think I know our culprit," responded Vector. The six looked behind them and saw the hooded man standing in the back of the group.

 _"So, you have found the location of the fourth temple… congratulations… However, you should hurry in solving the puzzles of this temple. I'm sure the heat here is unbearable to the point where you'll burn up."_ The hooded man said.

"That's easy for you to say!" retorted Charmy. "Look at yourself! A hood over your head, a large cloak, all in the middle of a volcano! I'm surprised you haven't melted!"

Vector put a hand over Charmy's mouth. "Charmy! Shh! There's a time 'n place to say things, this ain't one of 'em!"

 _"You'll be surprised as to what I can do small child. Anyway, that is all I have for you six today. If you will excuse me…"_

The hooded man held something in his hand. Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy didn't recognize it at all, but when the hooded man threw it to the ground, blinding them temporarily, they realized it was a distraction item. When they regained their vision, the hooded man was gone.

"Do you guys know him or something?" asked Amy.

"Let's just say, he's helpin' us too, just in a… different way…" responded Vector.

"He's the one who gave us the map!" said Charmy.

"Was he now?"

"Hey you guys, I know talking is good, but we still have a Chaos Emerald to collect," Knuckles said. "Who knows what Eggman's doing right now?"

"Knux is right, we should enter the temple. We better thank the hooded man he told us it was here. I didn't know fer sure."

The crocodile walked up to the pillar and grabbed it on both side, sliding it back with his strength. Vector grunted as veins popped on his biceps. Soon enough, the pillar was out of the way, allowing access despite the other pillar which hadn't been moved.

"C'mon, guys!" he called out. Vector slipped through the tight space of the opening as Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy followed suite.

* * *

Entering inside the new temple, the six immediately began to sweat harder than before.

"Geez… can this place not get any hotter?" Charmy said.

"Just… Just try to deal with it, Charmy…" Vector said, using his hand as a make-shift fan. "Dun worry, when we get that Chaos Emerald, I'll treat us all to ice cold water. But fer now, we gotta head out."

The crocodile immediately walked up the stairs and looked both ways. On the left, there was a locked door, and on the right, the door was unlocked. Walking right (and with the group following behind him), Vector opened the door that lead to a new room. The six walked across a bridge as lava from below erupted, causing streams of lava to burst into the air, and come down.

Just before Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy could cross the bridge, two bats that seemed to be on fire rushed towards them.

"Whoa! Watch out, guys!" Tails yelled. Amy got out her Piko Piko Hammer and slammed it into the two bats, causing them to go flying, and then spiral into the lava.

"There we go," she said, putting her hammer back into hammerspace.

Eying her, the other five shrugged it off as they continued to walk. They jumped onto a rock and saw that there was three ways they could go from where they were standing; left, right, and forward. The doorway right was locked, meaning all there was to go was left and forward.

"Hmm…" Vector scratched his chin. He looked back and forth between the two doors before deciding on the one to the left. Jumping over the many stones, the six entered inside the room to find a lone treasure chest. When Vector opened it, he found a key inside, most likely leading to the door that was locked in the previous room.

However, as soon as Vector did get the key, the door began to catch fire. Everyone became startled as the flames blocked off the way.

"We-We're not stuck here, are we?" asked Charmy, worried.

"We'll find a way out…" Amy comforted. Vector, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were left to find another way to leave the room. The red echidna knocked on one of the walls and noticed that it felt… hollow.

"There's something off about this wall…" he said. Knuckles took his fist and punched the wall. All the bricks came crumbling down as a new entrance was visible.

"Aha! That wall was a fake to hide this secret entrance. Yo, bro, nice job,"

Sonic placed his hand on Knuckles' shoulder as the two bumped fists.

After the blue hedgehog and red echidna's bro moment, the six walked along the new pathway, going around the corner and finding yet another wall that looked off.

"You know what to do, Knuckles!" said Tails. The emerald guardian nodded and punched the wall yet again. It came crumbling down as below, there was lava.

"Is there no way we can cross?" asked Vector. Charmy pointed to a platform that was moving by itself.

"We go on that, Vector!" he said. Charmy buzzed over to the platform as the five followed behind the young Chaotix member. The platform moved over to a ladder near the bridge, and one by one, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy all went up the ladder. They crossed the bridge again and jumped onto the rock. Now that they had checked the room to the left and gotten the key, all that was left was the room on the right, and the room forward.

"Well, we do got the key," said Vector. "Let's just use it there to see what kinda thing's gunna be there!"

The six began to cross the stones to the locked door, where the large green reptile took the key and began to unlock it.

* * *

"Orbot, I'm hot, I'm not sure about you…" Cubot complained. The two robots sat in front of the portable fan in front of them, getting cool as they could feel their internal parts overheating.

"Ooh… I am too… I'm hoping my microprocessor chip doesn't melt… you remember what happened last time…" responded Orbot.

"Yeah… you were gone for about a week or two and I really missed you…"

The two sighed as they felt the cool breeze on them. Despite them being robots, they could feel the fan's air cooling them and their parts down.

"You know, maybe I should dump water over myself. Water's always nice and cool," said Cubot.

"Why, Cubot! I didn't know about your suicidal tendencies!" Orbot replies with sarcasm.

The yellow square-headed robot looked around. "Are… are you being sarcastic?"

Orbot sighed and facepalmed. "Yes, I was. Unless you wish to short circuit, and be damaged, go ahead, poor water over yourself to cool down. Otherwise… no, don't submerge yourself into water because you're hot." responded the circular-headed red robot. Cubot sighed as the two robots slumped down into the ground, seeing The Chaotix, plus Team Sonic and… Amy Rose?!

"Oh, it's just you all… Don't worry about it, it's just so hot here that we feel like melting… yeah, that's right, melting…" Orbot said, putting his hand into the air.

"We'll be nothing more than incredibly hot goo that won't amount to anything in the end, so we'll have to stay put…" Cubot said. The six were confused about how Orbot and Cubot were acting.

"Ummm, are you guys okay?" asked Tails.

"But alas; here we are, learning how to lock our own doors yet there's no AC," Orbot said. "We're simply too tired and hot to think of anything mischievous… we've just been putting it aside… Say, you all wouldn't happen to have any water, do you?"

"Water? But won't that just-"

Before Charmy could continue with what he said, Vector placed his hand over the bee's mouth, silencing him.

"Charmy, I think we found an advantage, keep quiet, okay?" he whispered.

"If you can find some for us, we'll give you this key right here," Cubot held out a golden key. "I'm not too sure where it fits, but hey, it's a key,"

Before anyone could object in fear of a possible betrayal, Vector walked in front of everyone.

"We'll accept!"

The crocodile walked out of the room as a sighing Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy followed behind.

* * *

 **A FEW MINUTES LATER**

Everyone returned holding at least one bucket of water (two in Vector and Knuckles' case) and set them down by the two robots.

"There ya are," said Vector.

"Well, you didn't take too long to find these," Orbot said. He suddenly stopped. "Wait… how DID you find water in a fire based temple?"

"D'ya really think the author is gunna go outta his way to write some pointless side scene 'bout us gettin' the water when it probably has no relevance to the plot?"

"Well, you COULD have more character development!"

There was a pause as Vector looked at the orb-headed robot. "Just accept the damn water,"

Cubot handed over the key to Vector.

"Thank yeh, we'll be on our way now,"

The group left the room as Orbot and Cubot sighed.

"Finally, what we want!" They said. The two robots grabbed a bucket and poured it all over themselves. However, once they did, they began to violently convulse and produce electricity. They fell to the ground and went limp, not being able to move, or yell out for help.

* * *

"Geez, that was kind of morbid, getting water for a robot, don't you think?" asked Tails.

"At least we don't have to deal with another enemy they conjured up," Sonic replied.

"Yeah, that is TRUE, I guess…"

"As long as Orbot and Cubot are outta the way, then we're good, Tails," said Vector.

"So, I'm guessing the only place to check is the room forward, right?" asked Knuckles.

"Look at that, Knucklehead, you're learning!" Sonic teased. A vein popped on the red echidna.

"OH I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I'M LEARNING!" he yelled.

"Guysss!" Amy cried out, trying to stop the quarrel between the two friends.

"Don't worry about it, Amy! They'll get over it!" Charmy said. The pink hedgehog sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right,"

Jumping across the stones in the room with the three doors, the group opened the door in the northern part of the room.

* * *

Upon entering, a warm, yet soothing breeze filled the room.

"It's quite toasty in here," said Amy.

Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy looked up to see spiraling steps from a rock circle in the middle of the room. The six could see air lifting upwards, meaning this was where the breeze was coming from.

Sonic walked along the stone steps. "Hey guys, there's nothing wrong here! C'mon!"

Vector followed suite. "Be sure to watch yer step, guys!"

Charmy and Tails simply flew up near the gang as everyone made sure to keep their balance. One poorly timed mistake could lead to disaster after all.

After reaching the top, the group saw that were was a locked door. Getting the key Cubot had given him; Vector opened the door and went inside, not before letting everyone else in.

Upon entering, a wall of fire formed to the left and right. Seeing that there was only one way, to go straight, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy did so.

However, just a foot away from the door, a loud **BOOM** noise startled them. Worst of all, it seemed like it was right behind them. The group turned around to see a massive boulder rolling towards them.

Everyone's eyes grew small as they began to run away. Before long, a fiery wall formed in front and to the left of them, meaning they had to go right. This cycle of going to different paths continued on and on as Vector realized; this was a maze.

 _"Oh boy… I'm hopin' there ain't no death traps or somethin' like that…"_ he thought.

The group continued to run along the maze before turning left and coming across a door. Sonic used his speed to run to the door and opened it, letting everyone inside before closing it behind him. The group could hear the boulder roll off into the distance and hit the wall.

"Whew man… I thought I was a goner…" Vector said.

"You can say THAT again!" Tails replied, huffing and puffing.

"Where are we now?" asked Charmy. The group saw they were seeing a bunch of metal swings, leading to the door on the other side of the room.

"Well, that's where we need to go," Sonic said. Everyone jumped onto the first swing, but as soon as they did, it began to lower closer into the lava.

"OH, WHY DID WE DO THAT?!" Vector yelled.

"Vector, go! Get on the next one!" Sonic yelled.

"You're the heaviest here after all!" Knuckles yelled. By now, Tails and Charmy were now in the air, which fortunately meant that the swing wasn't going into the lava as fast as before.

Vector had jumped to the next swing, and then the next, as Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy did too. The pink hedgehog had almost fell into the lava after messing up her jump had it not been for Tails grabbed her at the last second.

"Whew… thank you, Tails!"

"No problem, Amy! Here, I'll take us to where Vector is, I don't want you to be afraid to mess up your jump again."

"I mean, I think I'll be fine but hey, I'll accept your offer!"

Tails flew over to Vector and Charmy, as Sonic and Knuckles finally jumped off the last swing and to where the two Chaotix members were.

"Geez, talk about heart racing," Knuckles said.

"More like heart PACING! Eh? Am I right?" Sonic said.

Everyone simply looked at him.

"Sonic, say one more thing, and I ain't afraid to push yeh into the lava," Vector coldly said.

"Eh heh heh…"

"That's what I thought."

Vector opened the door as Tails let Amy down. Everyone went through the door and saw a large stone right in front of their faces. Charmy jumped when he saw it.

"Waugh! That scared me!" he said.

Looking around it, Vector and Knuckles could see that the stone seemed to fit into a hole onto the ground. It was also noteworthy that the stone was in the shape of normal stairs.

"Well, you know what to do, right?" asked the red echidna.

"Yeh dun even need to say anythin'," replied the crocodile.

The two got behind the stone and began to push it forwards. Since the two were quite strong, they were able to quickly get the stone down into the hole. Everyone watched as it fell down, and the two looked down the hole.

"Whaddya think's down there?" asked Vector. "Should we go down?"

"Unless you want your legs to break and worst case scenario, die, no thanks," replied Knuckles.

Sonic and Tails looked around the room, and suddenly stopped. A chest came down from the ceiling, startling everyone.

"Sonic, did you do that?" asked Tails.

"No, I didn't. Let's check it out, though!" he replied. The blue hedgehog opened the chest and found a key inside it.

"Ha ha, alright! It's my lucky day!"

"Now, where does that lead too?" asked Vector.

"Not sure, but hey, a key's a key!"

"So now that we've got all this stuff, where do we go now?" asked Knuckles. Everyone looked around, not sure how to answer the emerald guardian's question.

It was then that Charmy and Amy looked around a part of the wall that was strangely colored. They poked it and saw that it was merely a sheet of paper being held up to resemble the wall. As it came down, they saw that it was a slide.

"Hey guys, look at what me and Amy found!" Charmy said.

"Huh, would ya look at that…" Vector said.

"I need to have a bit of fun, meet you down!"

Charmy began to sit onto the slide.

"Charmy, no!"

It was too late, before Vector could grab the bee; he began to go down the slide.

"Wee!" he squealed.

"CHARMY, WAIT!"

Vector tried to get himself into the slide properly, but slipped and began to slide on his stomach.

"AUGHH!" He yelled out.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy simply looked, then sighed and shook their heads.

"That's the Chaotix for you," Knuckles said.

"Ladies first, after all," Tails said. Amy nodded and got onto the slide, following after the two Chaotix members. Then, it was Tails who went on, then Sonic, then Knuckles.

Going down the slide, things picked up speed as they saw Vector's green scales coming close to the young bee.

"Geez, how long is this slide anyway?" Sonic asked. "And could it not get hotter?"

"We must be under the lava from how this is shaped!" Tails said.

"Comforting, knowing that lava could come down on me… I'm not ready to become a bunch of bones…" Knuckles muttered.

"Well I don't know, we could have some nice roasted echidna," Sonic replied.

Knuckles glared at him. "It's like you WANT me to punch you."

"Eh heh heh, hey, take a chill pill, Knux, I'm only kidding!"

Sonic playfully hit Knuckles' shoulder as the red echidna huffed.

* * *

Finally, the end of the slide approached as Team Sonic could see that the drop went straight down.

"Wait… STRAIGHT DOWN?!" Tails yelled. The three screamed as they fell onto the ground, gravel and rocks all over their face. Sonic shook his head as the rocks came off his face.

"Geez, where in the heck-?"

He could see that they were back in the main room of the temple.

"Huh? Did we just… backtrack?"

"Fer good reason too!" replied Vector. He held up the key as he pointed to the locked door behind him.

"Oh! Well then I guess it was good that we managed to come back here instead of walking all that way!"

Sonic began to pull up his friends, who thanked him.

"Well, I'm sure there's nothing else left here except the temple guardian. So, let's go!" Vector encouraged. Everyone shook their heads as Vector opened the door.

* * *

Entering inside, the six began to walk down the stairs Vector and Knuckles pushed down earlier before going down the slide.

 _"So, this is where it was,"_ Vector thought.

The crocodile, bee, blue and pink hedgehog, two tailed fox, and the echidna now stood on a red and black colored circular rock, magma heating up the cracks of the rock. In the middle, a large pool of lava stood with an egg standing up in it.

"Hey, there's an egg! Should we get it, Vector?" asked Charmy. "Imagine the breakfast we could make out of that thing!"

However, Vector's face turned slightly worrying. "Uhh… Charmy, I dun think that's healthy fer eatin'…"

"Huh? Why not-"

All of a sudden, the egg began to vibrate and bounce. Everyone took a step back as Vector got into a stance, ready to protect his friends and teammate.

When the egg began to crack, there was a brief pause before something that could be described as extraordinary, yet frightening happened.

A large bird emerged from the egg as it screeched. It let out its fiery wings as magma dripped down from them. The bird began to fly around the room.

"W-What is that?!" Amy asked frantically. Vector got out the map and as usual, words and a picture burned into the parchment.

 **"Bird from Hell**

 ** _FLAMING PHOENIX"_**

"Oooooh! That map said a bad word!" Charmy said as he looked over Vector's shoulder.

"Yeh betcha it did, so dun go repeatin' it, Charmy," replied Vector. He put the map away as Flaming Phoenix began to rush towards the group. Everyone got out of the way and landed on the floor, but quickly got up due to how hot the rock was.

"OW, OW, OW!" yelled Tails.

"It's like walking on fiery rocks barefoot!" Sonic cringed.

"How the heck are we gunna beat this thing?!" Vector muttered.

"Beats me! Let's just try to run from this thing while we come up with a strategy!"

Everyone began to huddle up as the blazing avian began to attack more. Not only did it rush in beak first, but it began to flap its wings in hopes of the six falling into the lava. Charmy almost got blown away had it not been for Vector.

Continuing to run, the crocodile came up with more ideas in his head.

 _"What if me and Knux hit the beak at the same time? No… too risky... well, someone jumps on it? Nah… argh! Damn! Why is it so hard to think of a way to beat this thing?!"_

It was then that Vector got an idea.

"Guys, get in mah mouth!"

Everyone else looked at him.

"E-Excuse… excuse you?" Amy asked.

"Get in mah mouth! I think I gots an idea on how we're gunna beat this thing!"

"What good will us in your mouth do?"

Vector's eyes twinkled. "Trust me."

And so, less than a minute later, everyone, somehow, fit into his mouth. The large green reptile's cheeks looked like he had just shoved at least three of Vanilla's homemade cakes in his mouth at the same time.

"Are you ready, Vector?" Sonic asked, hearing his voice echo. Vector nodded as he saw that Flaming Phoenix began to rush towards him.

Seeing the right time, Vector spit everyone out, turning them into a makeshift ball. It hit the bird as it came down into the ground, the fire on its wings extinguishing. Amy grabbed her Piko Piko Hammer and began to smash the bird's chest.

"Just, freaking, die, already!" she yelled.

"Amy, wait for me!" Charmy exclaimed. He stung into Flaming Phoenix's mouth as Knuckles came down with his fist. Tails shot down Sonic in hopes of paralyzing the bird. Once that was done, the blue blur began to use his spin dash to attack Flaming Phoenix.

Finally, Vector set off with one final attack, a kick to the chest before the bird slapped everyone away with its wings, and the fire re-birthed.

"It looks like we did a lot of damage to it! Look!" Amy said. She pointed to how Flaming Phoenix looked rather weak.

Yet, that didn't mean it wasn't still raring to go. This time, the phoenix had a new attack. It began to shoot out fireballs from its mouth, causing everyone to jump out of the way (or dodge in Charmy's case).

"This thing never gives up, does it?!" Tails said.

"Don't worry; soon enough, it should come back!" Sonic replied.

Flapping its wings once more, Flaming Phoenix conjured up fiery tornados. Charmy almost gasped as he started to get pulled in.

"V-VECTOR! HELP!" he yelled. With all his strength, he flapped his wings as hard as he could to avoid getting sucked in. Yet, it was evident that he was getting tired.

"Charmy!" Vector screamed. He quickly ran over to get his teammate and could feel the scorching heat of the tornado. Yet, he was able to get away from it.

"Don't worry, pal, I gotcha," he said. "Damn… Charmy's not rarin' too good."

"I'll be fine… Vector… just concentrate on beating that bird…"

Vector looked at the small bee and nodded. He could see that it came down once again.

"Don't worry, Vector! I'll go in!" Knuckles ran over to the crocodile as he opened his mouth. Shutting it quickly, he shot the red echidna towards the beak of Flaming Phoenix as the bird once again came down. Giving Charmy to Sonic, Vector ran over to the avian and grabbed it by its tail.

"YA DON'T…"

He began to slam it back and forth.

"MESS WITH THE PEOPLE I CARE 'BOUT!"

Vector threw the Flaming Phoenix into the air.

"AMY!"

The pink hedgehog nodded. Grasping her hammer, she slammed it into the avian as it went soaring into the wall. All of a sudden, the ceiling began to crumble underneath it as rocks tumbled down on it. Flaming Phoenix slammed face first into the lava as the rocks pushed it down more. Vector, Charmy (now given back to Vector), Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy watched as the last of the temple guardian fell into the lava.

The room began to chill as the lava solidified, turning into stone.

"Well… that looks like that's the end of the Flaming Phoenix…" said Sonic.

"Charmy, are yeh alright?" Vector asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Vector! You can let go of me now!" The bee responded. The head honcho of the Chaotix let his younger teammate go as he buzzed in the air. "Now, where's the Chaos Emerald?"

Knuckles noticed that below, where the lava used to be, there was a cracked wall. Walking over to it, he punched the wall as the rock came clean down.

"That answer your question, Charmy?" he asked. The red echidna walked into the new room as the other five followed behind.

Upon entering, Amy gasped as she looked at the red room, and the torches with a red colored flame all aligned on the wall.

"It's so pretty here…" she said.

"What's pretty about some dusty old temple, Amy?" asked Charmy.

"Plenty of things can be pretty about that, Charmy!" said Tails.

"Nerd…"

Tails frowned as everyone walked up to the pillar. As usual, a light shined onto the Chaos Emerald, a bright blood red colored emerald. Vector held it up as he usually would do.

"Four outta seven, half way there!" he said.

"We're gunna get Espio soon!" Charmy buzzed.

Amy got up close to Sonic. "Hey Sonic, doesn't that emerald look perfect on a ring? Preferably a ring on my finger given by youuuu?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "The day I start giving rings is the day I no longer run."

Tails and Knuckles burst out laughing as the pink hedgehog slapped the blue blur.

"Well, I never!"

"Geez, you got that one coming for you, Sonic," Tails said, still chuckling.

"Ha ha, yeah! Totally!" added Knuckles.

"Oh shut it, you two…" Sonic groaned, rubbing the place where Amy slapped him.

"Anyway, Vector, how are we gunna get out of here?" asked Amy.

"We get asked that each time. Just give it a sec,"

As always, a blue veil formed around the six as it brought them up into the air. The room flashed as Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy disappeared.

* * *

The group emerged from outside of the volcano, tumbling onto the ground. Amy got up from the ground and dusted off her skirt.

Just then, a pair of headlights blinded the six as someone came out of a car.

"Oh boy, it never ends, does it?" asked Sonic. He took back what he said a second later when he heard a familiar voice.

"Oh, it's you guys again!"

It was Ranger Ken.

"Hey, whassup Ken? Whacha doin' here?" asked Vector, walking up to the bear.

"Well, the trail closed about an hour ago, but I took the first hour of night guard duty. However, someone else is about to take over for the rest of the night, and I was about to head home when I saw this blue light by the volcano. So I check it out and there you six are."

"That's how we get out of temples!" Charmy said.

"I see. Speaking of temples, did you find the Chaos Emerald you were looking for?"

Vector showed Ranger Ken the red Chaos Emerald.

"Ooh! That's quite a pretty color, reminds me of a long time ago, when I would buy my wife jewelry. I bought her jewels anytime she cried, and boy, did my wallet go dry in the times I did that," he said. The crocodile suddenly became defensive of the emerald.

"Ha ha! Don't worry, I won't try to steal it," The ranger began to shake his hands. "Hey, since I'm about to head home, why don't I drop you guys off at Station Square?"

"We would love to!" Amy said.

"Well, you heard the missy, get in."

Everyone got into Ranger Ken's jeep, the same seating arrangements as last time. Ranger Ken put the jeep in reverse, and then began to drive down the mountain trail.

Upon arriving to Station Square, Ranger Ken parked near the sidewalk and stopped the jeep. Everyone got out of it as he rolled down the windows.

"There you guys are, you all have a good night!" he said before rolling the window back up and driving off.

"So… where to now?" asked Vector.

"Eggman did say that there's only three days left until his arrival, we should find the fifth emerald! Vector, check your ma-" Sonic began before Amy covered his mouth.

"Sonic, aren't you guys all tired though? We did spend that whole day in the temple!" She said.

"It didn't really feel like it though…" Tails mused aloud. "Why is it always night when we leave these temples when they don't seem to be written long…"

"I say we should go to my house! I can make us dinner, and we have a good place to sleep for the night. Don't worry, when we wake up tomorrow, we'll go searching for the fifth emerald."

Vector sighed. "As much as I wanna agree with Sonic, ya do gotta point there, Amy. C'mon, take us to yer place."

"Okay! Follow me everybody!"

"Sleepover at Amy's, sleepover at Amy's!" Charmy sung.

"Hopefully Angel Island isn't in the sea as usual by now…" Knuckles said, arms crossed.

"Easy for you to say, I thought my idea was good but NOPE!" Sonic replied, arms behind his head. "Still, a free meal you can't turn down, even if it ain't chili dogs."

* * *

After a nice dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, and freshly squeezed lemonade, Amy set out several futons in her (rather small) guest room. Everyone (sans the pink hedgehog herself) snored while on their futon as the moon of the night sky hit the room.

However, Vector shook in his sleep, mumbling before turning back and forth, and feeling himself enter slumber land.

* * *

 _Vector ran down a dark hallway, looking back and forth._

 _"Still no sign of Espio… damn…" he said._

 _As the crocodile continued to run straight, he noticed a lone door sitting by itself. He smiled._

 _"That must be where he is!"_

 _However, before Vector opened the door, he paused and looked at his hands._

 _"Wait… this dream… it's… familiar…"_

 _It suddenly hit him._

 _"This… this was the dream I had last night…"_

 _Crossing his fingers, Vector opened the door, but his suspicions were true._

 _There was Espio, on the ground, visibly dead. The crocodile winced as he knew he had to go through this again._

 _Sure enough, that was the case; ghost Espio tormented the crocodile relentlessly._

 _However… something… odd happened._

 _"Typical…" spat out Espio's spirit. "Someone as lazy and laid back as you couldn't even be bothered to save their own best friend. Look at what said friend has become now, nothing but a corpse. And it's YOUR entire fault."_

 _"E-Espio, n-no! Yer still alive!"_

 _"Oh, but am I really? You might not know that…"_

 _Vector sat on the ground, bringing his knees up close to his snout._

 _However, instead of continuing to look cross, Espio now had a… smirk on his face._

 _"Look at you… did I ever tell you that you look… so cute all powerless?"_

 _Vector lifted his head up. "Huh?"_

 _Espio walked closer to Vector, grabbing the bottom of his chin._

 _"Did I? Well, now I'm telling you. You big cutie~…"_

 _"Espio?" The crocodile had a look of confusion. "Espio, are ya feelin' okay?"_

 _"I am… are you however?"_

 _"Y-Yeah! I'm good!"_

 _"Really now…"_

 _Espio placed his hand on Vector's chest._

 _"Are you actually fine? Or is it getting too much for you?"_

 _Now a heavy blush appeared on Vector's face. He wanted to hide it from embarrassment._

 _"Heh… it's funny, I have the big strong guy wrapped around my finger instead of it being the opposite…"_

 _Vector accidentally stumbled down onto the floor, landing back first. Seconds later, Espio appeared on top of him. He held down Vector's hands._

 _"Your eyes are also beautiful too… that… vermilion color is irresistible…"_

 _The large green reptile awkwardly chuckled. He didn't know what to make of the situation, or what was going on._

 _But… strangely… he enjoyed this…_

 _Espio's eyelids lowered as he slowly came towards Vector._

 _His lips were only an inch apart from Vector's._

* * *

And then, he woke up.

Vector opened his eyes and took a deep breath, quickly looking around the room. No one had woken up as usual.

He looked down at the floor, processing what happened.

 _"Okay… my dream happened as normal, Espio got all flirty, played the cliché 'do nothing but blush and be embarrassed role'…"_ He thought.

 _"Wait…"_

Everything just hit Vector as if it were a freight train.

 _"Did that actually… happen? No no… it was just a dream, nothing more…"_

Vector's mind began to think about Espio. His bright fuchsia scales, his thin, curly tail, his lemon yellow eyes-

 _"Gawd, Vector, now ya gotta start thinkin' 'bout him more in-depth?"_

The crocodile placed his hands over his eyes, rubbing them.

Why was Espio acting the way he was in his dream? It wasn't like that was actually Espio; rather, an Espio conjured up by _him._

And why did he think about Espio's features first instead of the worriment of the chameleon's safety being top priority.

It pained Vector's mind to come up with an answer, with so many possibilities and results.

However, he soon came to a conclusion about what happened.

But, it was a conclusion that made Vector freeze.

He got under his covers again and quietly laughed to himself.

 _"N-No! It can't be like that! I dun see him like that! Heh heh… yeah! I sure as heck dun think of him like that!"_

Vector tried to smile to himself, but couldn't. He tried to go back to sleep, and eventually did.

But, the thought still lingered in his mind.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ON EGGMAN'S SHIP**

Dr. Eggman sat over a table, replacing the wires and circuitry of Orbot and Cubot after finding out the two had short-circuited after they dumped water on themselves.

"Geez, these lousy, no-good robots can never get anything right, can they?!" he muttered to himself. "Surely they know water is dangerous to them… Ugh…"

Eggman soldered in the new wires in Orbot's head, the lights of the blue fire lighting up his face and the goggles protecting his eyes.

"So… the Chaotix and friends have collected four Chaos Emeralds…" He said to himself. "Interesting… things are only going to get more exciting from here on…"

He began to grin evilly. "And soon enough, those emeralds will be mine… As for Espio, I couldn't care much about him. But that crocodile seems to… here's to hoping Vector gets wiped out…"

The evil doctor put down the blowtorch. "But, Sonic is the one I'm hoping drops dead first before Vector, then, that means my plan can truly be unstoppable… All I need are the other three emeralds, and that's a complete set of seven…"

Dr. Eggman got up, and walked over to a tank filled with water. He looked at grey ball in the middle. It had red stripes all over it.

"And soon… my ultimate plan will initiate…"

He grinned his trademark grin again. "Soon… it will be time to activate you… U.B…"


	6. 5: He said: Let out how you feel

**(AN: Why hello everybody! It's been a while, but here we are with Chapter 5! This chapter has been interesting to write, in both positive and negative. Negative in that A. It took a while, and B. I had to scrap the original name of this chapter because it didn't fit (Originally, the title was: "He said: Don't let your true thoughts be buried." which IMO sounds cooler.**

 **But positive in that I like the amount of progression that happens here, plus, since we're coming close to the end of the story, things are gonna get longer from here, so AYY.**

 **Anyway, before we begin this chapter, there is something I would like to address first. I got a review from a user (not saying who due to privacy reasons) about the fourth-wall breaking humor that has been in the fic so far. I would like to say, thank you for the criticism, as it does help me improve my writing. To respond, from this chapter onwards, I planned to take things in a more serious tone, as we are reaching the end of our journey. For example, this chapter in particular is actually QUITE on the spiritual side (hey, you guys get a sneak preview :P)**

 **However, please do understand that usually, fourth wall breaking humor, along with sarcastic, dry humor (the stuff you'd see in like Sonic Boom, the TV show, for example) that the fic has had so far is usually my type of humor. And hey, Sonic as a series has broken the fourth wall MANY times (take a look at the Chaotix's first appearance in Sonic X).**

 **But do not worry, I will be limiting it more from now on (Only once per chapter from now on, and it may not be always). However, please note that I will not 100% eradicate it for reasons I have explained above. So please do bear with me.**

 **Once again user, thank you for the constructive criticism. And with that out of the way, let's continue on with the story!)**

* * *

Vector was the first to awake, a bit uncharacteristic of the crocodile to do (since he loved to sleep in). He looked around the room and got up from his futon quietly. Instead of walking out of the room, Vector walked over to the window and pulled the curtains, staring out the window.

It was misty outside, giving the outside a lonely feel to it. Vector stared at the mist, placing his chin on his arms.

 _"The mist… heavy is the mist from outside…"_ The crocodile thought, feeling himself detach from reality. _"A defining loneliness spells from each moment spent inside it…"_

 _"The grey sky… grey… a color of dullness… the color that makes me feel unmotivated…"_

 _"The earth that we stand on… why do we stand on this earth from the moment we enter this world?"_

 _"The world… a place where people live in harmony… People made by humanity..."_

 _"What are people? Are they creations of god?"_

 _"I am I… the person I was birthed as is nothing more than me…"_

Vector looked behind him to see his sleeping friends.

 _"Charmy Bee… Sonic the Hedgehog… Miles 'Tails' Prower… Knuckles the Echidna…"_

He then looked over at the door.

 _"Amy Rose…"_

Finally, images flashed of the people he knew.

 _"Cream and Vanilla the Rabbit… the members of Team Dark and Babylon… Big the Cat and his pet frog… the children of the future; Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat… The man of evil; Dr. Eggman… These people I know, Ranger Ken, the Archaeologist, the hooded man…"_

And sure enough, after the images of everyone he knew flashed, an image of Espio standing in a dark room with a spotlight on him, standing completely still with a blank face flashed in Vector's mind.

 _"My lost friend… Espio the Chameleon…my…-"_

Vector closed his eyes, not wanting to think about it.

 _"These people, they're all creations of man, just like me… They exist for the same purpose as me…"_

Vector never knew how philosophical he could be. However, something about his realization last night and seeing the mist from outside… opened something in his heart.

 _"Espio… he always said to be open…"_

 _"He said: 'Don't let your true thoughts be buried… There's no shame in letting out how you feel'."_

 _"Should I bury these… thoughts though? These thoughts that… I don't think I should have?"_

 _"What do I do? What should I do?_

 _"What… what… what..."_

Something broke Vector from his trance.

He saw that Sonic was getting up now. The blue hedgehog rubbed his eyes and yawned, turning to see Vector.

"Oh, hey there, Vex," he said.

"Mornin'," replied the crocodile.

"Why ya lookin' out the window?"

"Just wanted to."

"Are you feeling okay? You seem kinda… out of it this morning…"

"I'm fine…"

Sonic understood, and didn't pry at the reptile.

It was then that the two hear the sweeping of a... broom?

Sonic and Vector slowly walked out of the room to see Amy, sweeping up her living room. She turned to see her friends and smiled.

"Good morning you two! It's nice to see that you guys are awake!" she said.

"Morning to you, Amy," Sonic said. "Why are you sweeping?"

"Oh! I sweep every day! You can't have dust bunnies on the floor after all!"

Vector looked a bit confused. "Amy? Are ya sure yer supposed to sweep every day? That kinda sounds a bit unhealthy… ya know… anxiety and stress over neatness, all that…"

Now the large green reptile felt himself coming back to himself.

"Don't be ridiculous, Vector! Everything has to be one-hundred percent spotless! Otherwise, whose gonna be in my house if they see that less than an inch dust bunny on the floor?"

Vector and Sonic shook their heads. "Anyway, subject change," The blue hedgehog said. "When's breakfast?"

"We should wait after everyone's awake, okay?" The pink hedgehog replied. "In the meantime, sit down! Relax! Well, then again, you guys DID wake up from sleep so… yeah…"

Amy placed her hand over her mouth as if she were embarrassed. The crocodile and hedgehog shrugged as the decided to sit at the table until Tails, Knuckles, and Charmy woke up.

Soon enough, less than an hour later, everyone was finally awake, and Amy was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. She came out with six waffles, five large and one small for Knuckles, along with sides of bacon, hash browns, and eggs (she gave Knuckles servings of fruit for his side).

"Geez… this sure is a lot, thank yeh, Amy!" said Vector.

"No problem! It's no hard sweat for someone like me!" she replied.

"Yeah, this looks so delicious!" Charmy said.

"Sonic, pass me the syrup would you? I think my mouth is watering…" Tails said.

"One syrup bottle, coming right up!" Sonic handed the bottle of syrup to his best friend.

"You sure do know how to treat a guest right, Amy," Knuckles said, eating one of his grapes. "We all thank you."

Amy rubbed the back of her head. "Hee hee! I don't know what to say guys! You're all so generous! But that's enough about me, let's dig in!"

The meal was absolutely delicious, and no one thought about stopping due to being full. Around half way into the meal however, Sonic piped up.

"I think it's good that we're eating all this stuff, it'll definitely give us energy for the upcoming temples," he said, drinking a bit of milk. "Remember, there's only two days left, so we gotta make sure we get all those emeralds."

"Vector, where's the next Chaos Emerald?" asked Charmy. Vector pulled out the map as a location to the northwest of the Mystic Ruins burned into the parchment.

 **"MOUNTAINS OF SNOWRUSH"**

"An icy place… dang it…" he said.

"Oh, right!" Amy said. "Because you're cold blooded, things are gonna be really difficult for you!"

"Guess it is good I had this breakfast… looks like I'll need to head to Station Square to get some winter supplies."

"But Vector! It's not even winter yet!" Charmy said. Vector looked at his teammate.

"Oh… now I get it… never mind then…."

"We probably should hurry up eating then," Sonic said. "We should head out as soon as Vec's picked up what he needs."

"You're right, Sonic, but now that I think about it… how are we gonna get to the mountains? We can't just climb up this icy mountain and get there in one piece!" Knuckles said. "We'd probably freeze to death before that happens!"

"That's why you always have a smart guy like me around!" Tails said, pointing to himself as a grin of smugness appeared on his face. "We'll take the Tornado 2 then!"

"Wow, even I didn't think of that. Good thinking, Tails!" said Sonic. The two tailed fox smiled in response.

After their conversation, everyone finished eating around five minutes later (Amy made them wash their plates however). Vector grabbed all the rings he had accumulated throughout all the temples.

"I'm headin' out now! I'll try to be back as fast as I can!"

"Be careful, Vector!" Amy called out.

"Yeah! Be careful!" Charmy said. Knuckles looked at the bee.

"Was… was that a pun?"

* * *

Vector ended up coming back almost an hour later. He slammed the door open, panting, holding a jacket, boots, and a hat in one of his hands.

"You certainly came back in a hurry," Sonic said. He was sitting on the couch, hands behind his head. "What took you so long?"

"Boy, trust me when I say that Station Square is a madhouse right now," Vector said, sitting down to catch his breath.

"A madhouse? What for?" asked Tails.

"Everyone's either gettin' supplies or evacuatin' cause of Eggman's attack. Fortunately, that didn't stop me from gettin' these, but man… everyone fightin' over food, long as heck lines… it was chaos…"

"Some people forget that they're civilized in times of danger, I guess."

"Anyway… all that matters is that I got mah stuff, so we can head out now." Vector began to put on his new, temporary clothes. "Where's yer airplane, Tails?"

Suddenly, the fox froze. "It's… it's back at the Mystic Ruins. Do you remember last night before I went to bed that I had to go out? Yeah, that was because I left the Tornado 2 in Station Square…"

"So… does that mean?" asked Charmy.

"We'll have to take the train to the Mystic Ruins, and trust me, from what Vector's talking about, it's not going to be a pretty sight."

* * *

It was just like Tails predicted. The entirely of the train was filled with nervous mobians; men, women, and children, all with bags and luggage. The six couldn't find a single open seat, so much like the hundreds of others, they had to stand and hold their hands on the metal beams.

After making what felt like one hundred stops, the train stopped at Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy's destination.

 _"Now arrived at the Mystic Ruins. Please, take all luggage and materials with you before exiting,"_ A voice on the P.A. said. Since the six didn't have anything, they didn't care too much about it, and exited the train, passing by a raccoon family and a large tiger.

Walking off the wooden 'train station', the six went down the stairs and ran to Tails' workshop. Everyone got inside as the two tailed fox made his way to the Tornado 2, starting to up.

"All engines working… check… Propeller and wings in perfect condition… check… Gas up to 100%... check… Yup! I think we're all set to go!" Tails said. He pressed a button that opened up the small airstrip for the Tornado 2. Tails got into the pilot's seat as Vector got into the back, Amy and Knuckles next to him. Charmy sat on his guardian's lap as Sonic, per usual, sat on the wings.

"Vector, where's the location of the Snowrush mountains?" Tails asked. Vector pulled out the map again and showed Tails the location.

"Okay…" he said. The two tailed fox clicked on the screen of the Tornado, punching in the location. "…gotcha! Get ready everyone; we're ready for lift off!"

Tails pushed up on the throttle as the propellers began to spin. He pushed back on the yoke as the airplane began to move. It then came off the ground, and began to fly away.

"Whoa… this is cool!" Charmy said, looking down as the ground. "I never knew that's what the ground looked like when you're this high!"

"Heh heh, that's the magic of being in an airplane!" Tails replied.

"So Tails, how long is the trip gonna be?" called out Sonic from the wings.

"Judging from what this is telling me, we'll be there in less than thirty minutes!"

"Oh good, that won't be too long, then!" Amy said.

"Yeah, we should sit back and relax…" Knuckles added.

"One step behind ya all," Vector commented, putting his headphones at max volume and kicking back. He could feel the cool yet refreshing breeze hit him as he placed his hands behind his head.

 _"I could get used to his…"_ he thought.

* * *

Unfortunately, Vector's state of euphoria ended when they finally arrived to the mountains of Snowrush. Due to his cold-blooded nature, he began to feel incredibly cold, shivering and rubbing his arms despite his undergarments.

"G-God… this place is colder than I thought it would be!" The crocodile complained.

"Aw, it looks like little Vector's all weak because of the cold!" Charmy teased. "Too bad for him, I guess he'll have to sit this one out."

Vector glared at the bee for almost a minute, while Charmy tried his best to look innocent.

Had it not been for Amy intervening and grabbing him out from the large green reptile's arms, Vector would have thrown Charmy out from the Tornado 2.

"Sorry, Vector…" Charmy apologized. "But man, even you can say that you're kinda having none of it when you're like the biggest jokester I know!"

Vector sighed and placed his head on his hands. He wanted to be back to his old self, less worry and stress, but with less than 48 hours to go before Eggman begins his invasion, not to mention whatever he'd do with Espio; it made the crocodile 100% serious to complete their quest.

He snapped out of reality when Tails began to lower the Tornado 2 and landed it on the snow. The two tailed fox turned off his airplane and got out his PDA.

"We should find the temple right here!" yelled Tails through the gust of wind and the heavy snow falling. He covered his face to prevent snow pelting it. "Just follow me and try not to get left behind!"

Everyone hopped out of the Tornado 2 and began to follow Tails. Vector breathed what felt like frigid ice to him as his teeth chattered. He rubbed his hands incredibly quickly for warmth, but alas, nothing.

 _"What would Espio say if he saw me right now? He'd flip…"_ The large green reptile thought. He knew the chameleon would try to make sure.

 _Espio…_

* * *

Seeing as how the group was doing nothing but walking to the next temple, this gave the crocodile a chance to examine and reflect on everything that happened since last night.

 _"Espio's never gotten that close with me before… sure he's done some stuff in the past but… not in that way…"_ He thought. Vector could feel his cheeks heat up. Was it because of the cold? Or thinking about his dream last night? Either way, he wanted to slap himself for even having that dream.

 _"But gosh… the way he came close to mah lips…"_

He growled. " _No no no, Vector! Stop thinkin' 'bout it!"_

Yet, Vector could try to convince himself all he wanted, but he knew that there was no use. Now he felt the warm and fuzzies on the inside.

 _"Why do I feel so warm? Could it be…?"_

He shook his head. _"N-No, dun think 'bout that especially! Heh heh, yeah, it's just silly talk, Vec. We all know ya like Vanilla, and nothing more. Besides, when the hell did Esp show he ever swung that way? Yeah! Hah hah…"_

Vector faked a smile as he looked at the ground, watching his feet move. Then, his smile dropped.

 _"Oh… who the hell am I kiddin'?"_

It was funny that people still believed that Vector still loved the adult rabbit. While it WAS true he did confess his feelings to her sometime before this crazy adventure began, what wasn't talked about was that she turned him down, saying she didn't share them. However, requested if they can be simply friends.

Despite his initial disappointment, Vector understood, and complied with her wishes. Now, he sees Vanilla as a very good friend.

So if he got turned down by Vanilla…

What made him think Espio would…?

 _"Is… Is this what the Master Emerald was talkin' to me 'bout?"_

Maybe the cold really was getting to him…

All of a sudden, he heard a voice.

 _"What is it that you wish for?"_

"Huh?"

 _"What is it that you want?"_

"Who's sayin' that?"

Vector looked around frantically. He wasn't even in the middle of a snowstorm anymore; he was in a plain white room, nothing surrounding him. Vector heard the voice yet again.

 _あなたが望むこと、それは何ですか？_

 _What is it that you wish for?_

"E-Espio… Obviously…"

 _なんでしょう_ ？

 _What do you want?_

"To see him again…"

 _そして？_

 _And?_

"Hold him close to me… let him know that… he's safe, and no longer… has to worry…"

* * *

…

"Vector?"

"Vector? Are you there?"

"Hey, Vector, if you don't snap outta it, I'm gonna take off your headphones and throw them off the mountain!"

"GAH!"

Vector opened his eyes, and frantically turned towards Charmy, pointing a finger at him.

"CHARMY, I SWEAR TO CHAOS IF YA EVEN TRY TO DO **ANYTHIN'** LIKE THAT, I'LL MAKE SURE NO MORE DESSERT FER THE REST OF YER LIFE!" he yelled. The bee was a little scared admittedly by his guardian's outburst, but smiled.

"There's the Vector I know!"

"Geez, Vec, are you sure you're okay?" Sonic asked. "You were like out of it for a few minutes. You just stood right there, muttering something under your breath,"

"D-Did I?"

"You mean you don't remember anything?" asked Knuckles.

Truth be told, Vector remembered his thoughts and his conversation with the mysterious voice in the white room. However, he didn't want to worry his friends.

"Uh… nope…"

"Vector, I know you're worried about Espio's safety, but I think you're becoming a little _too_ stressed out about it," Amy said. "It's causing you more harm than good. Here, take a deep breath for a minute, go on."

Nodded, Vector did just that. Surprisingly, it actually did help him out. He breathed in and out, feeling more calmed and relaxed by the minute.

"There you go…"

"If you guys are done with Vector, I suggest you hurry up, we're already at the temple," Tails said. He was right; the six were outside yet another temple. Snow and ice covered the many steps of the temple, yet the light blue markings on the stones of the temple were still visible.

The six headed up the steps to the fifth temple, but before reaching to the top, Knuckles slipped, and ended up falling off to the bottom step.

"Ah ha ha ha! Oh man, that is too good!" Sonic laughed, pointing at the red echidna. Knuckles became angry as he quickly got up from the snow, brushed himself up, and began to run up the steps.

"Oh you'll be making that face soon enough, Sonic, when I punch you right in the face-!"

"GUYS!" Vector yelled. "We dun have time fer this. Yeh can kill yerselves later, just not now!"

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a quick glance at each other before the six entered inside the temple.

* * *

It was warmer inside the temple, however that wasn't saying much, as the six still felt incredibly cold. They could still see their breath in the air.

Upon entering the main room of the temple, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy saw large ice picks coming from the ground. The crocodile walked over to one, grabbed it, and pulled it out with one quick pull. Tossing it to the side, he looked around.

"The coast is clear, guys!" Vector said.

Just as he began to walk, the large green reptile suddenly was taken off guard by a slope.

"NOT AGAIN!" he yelled as he began to slide down. The five ran up to the edge.

"VECTOR!" They called out.

"We should follow him!" Sonic said. He then began to slide down the icy slope as the other four followed behind.

When they had reached the bottom, they found the crocodile on his stomach, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Bleh…" he said.

"You gotta start watching where you step, Vector!" Charmy said. His guardian got up and wiped the snow from his chest.

"I realize that, Charmy, but trust me, I didn't see that comin'," he replied.

"Hey, it could have been worse, you could have crashed into something," said Knuckles.

"I did."

"Hu-"

The echidna was cut short off by a large pile of snow crashing down on the group. They popped their heads out from the snow and everyone began to look at Vector.

"Eh heh heh…"

Sighing, Sonic was the first to get out from the pile, and helped everyone back up. Getting off from the snow, the six could see that they were standing in front of an icy wall.

"You don't have to take care of it this time, Vector and Knux. Let ME take care of it," Sonic said, walking up to the wall. He began to crouch on the floor and did his spin dash move, rushing into the wall. It crumbled within an instant as Sonic continued to go fast. Everyone followed behind as they could hear the sound of a spring, then something crashing into the… wall?

When Vector, Charmy, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy arrived to the dead end, and turned left, they saw Sonic on the ground, in front of a fast moving walkway. Amy immediately rushed to his aid.

"Oh, Sonic, you're not hurt are you?" She moaned.

"I'm… I'm fine, Amy, seriously," he replied.

"Wait, how didja get there if there's a dead end here, Sonic?" asked Vector.

"I went so fast that I went up the wall, onto the ceiling, and to the other side where I tried to pass this walkway, but obviously you can tell the result of that."

Tails shrugged. "I can believe it. Anyway, we're clearly presented with an obstacle, and we need to find a way to get past it… Any ideas?"

"My poor Sonic couldn't get past the walkway… it looks like this thing is too fast, even for him!" Amy said.

"Then how about we DON'T use Sonic then to get across? What if we used someone else?" Knuckles said. He began to look at Tails and Charmy.

"What? Do I have something stuck on my face?" asked the bee.

"Naw, Tails, Charmy, yeh guys are perfect!"

"Huh?"

"If I can throw ya guys to the other side, then maybe ya can find something to make that walkway stop, so me 'n the rest of us can pass!"

"Wow, that's a great idea!" Tails said. "I like it a lot!"

"Okay! You can count me in, Vector!" Charmy exclaimed.

"That's the spirit, yeh two! C'mon, lemme pick ya guys up," said Vector. He grabbed the two flying-type mobians and threw them as far as he could. Before Tails and Charmy could hit the walkway, they began to use their flight to their advantage, and managed to make it to the other side.

"All right, Tails!..." Sonic said, dizzily. "You too, Charmy…"

The two tailed fox and bee went to the right, where they saw a switch with a pair of feet on the left and right.

"Judging by the symbol on this switch, this means that two people have to step on this!" Tails said.

"After you," Charmy said, pretending to bow. Tails laughed.

"Why, thank you."

The kitsune got onto the switch as Charmy lowered down, placing his feet on the switch as well. They heard a _CLICK_ noise as the noise of the walkway died down. Footsteps were heard as Vector, Sonic (who was rubbing his head), Knuckles, and Amy walked up to the two children.

"I knew ya guys could do it! And hey, looks like I was right!" Vector complimented.

"Heh heh, thanks, Vector! Sonic, are you doing fine?" Tails asked.

"Y-Yeah… I think I'll be good…" replied the blue hedgehog.

"See? I helped him get better! It was me I tell you!" Amy said. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Now that we've gotten past here, what else is next?" asked the red echidna.

"Somethin's already tellin' me that this is gonna be a long as heck temple," said the crocodile. He walked up to the door at the end of the room, but found that it had no handle.

"Huh? No handle?"

It was then that he noticed an opening on the bottom of the door. Clicking in his mind as to what he was to do, Vector grabbed the bottom of the door and using his strength, lifted the door up to allow access in.

"Hey, I did something like that when I was a werehog!" Sonic said to Tails.

"Yeah, well too bad, ya ain't the muscle of this group," Vector teased, grinning playfully. "That title belongs to me and Knux, although I get more-so the title of leader."

"What title do I get, Vector?" asked Charmy.

"Ya get… uh… kid mascot…"

"Kid mascot? Oh boy! That sounds like a cool title!"

"Y-Yeah! Yeh betcha it's a cool- T-TITLE!"

Vector was caught off guard when two pairs of hands pulled him back.

"Vector, were you not watching where you were going?!" Knuckles yelled at the crocodile.

He looked ahead and saw two blades made of ice, spinning in a circle.

"Whoa! I would have been a frozen dead croc if ya hadn't caught me in time! Thanks, Knux."

"Uh, I helped TOO!" Amy yelled, pointing to herself.

"AND Amy too," Vector rolled his eyes. "Anyway, how we gettin' across here?"

"Hmm… I've got an idea! Charmy and I can already go across but for the rest of you, go one at a time!"

The fox and bee began to glide above the blades. "Meet you on the other side!" said Tails.

"Grr… damn kids leavin' us behind to face death…" Vector grumbled.

"You first?" asked Sonic.

"Fine I guess, gives me another chance fer me to almost get mah tail ripped off."

Vector watched as the blades continued to rotate. He waited for the perfect moment to run, and after one of the blades slashed by, Vector immediately ran to the other side before the blade could strike. The crocodile leaped stomach first, landing in the snow.

"I'm… I'm alright!" he yelled.

"That's good to hear," Sonic replied. "Time for me to roll out!"

The blue hedgehog sped off, reaching the other side faster than Vector could.

"Amy, you're going to be alright on your own?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh, I'll be fine, Knuckles! Watch this!"

Amy turned her back from the blades, eyes closed. As soon as she heard one of them pass by however, she opened her eyes, and began to do backflips to where the group was.

"Whoa! How'd you do that, Amy?!" Charmy exclaimed.

"I've been doing a bit of gymnastics lately! Gotta say, it's been helping out a lot!" she replied.

"I'll say!" said Vector. "That was wicked cool!"

"Well, I guess after that little thing, it's my turn. Won't be as cool, but hey," Knuckles said, feeling a bit left out. He jumped into the air and glided to the other side.

"Well, there's a move you haven't done in a while," Sonic commented.

"Yeah, you think I'd use it again…" The red echidna replied.

Touching the icy door, it raised on its own as the group went through it.

"That sure is a convenient door!" Charmy said.

"I wonder how it did that…" Tails murmured.

* * *

The room they were in now contained two openings, however, they were too high up for the group to reach. Judging from the two ice blocks in the room, seemed to be a puzzle involving them. Vector looked around the room, finger rubbing his chin.

"Hmm… Me thinks that there has to be a certain way these can be pushed, and that we only gots one chance to do it…" The large green reptile said.

"Try the block nearest to you, Vector," Sonic said. The crocodile walked onto the ice and began to feel himself almost slip as his feet slid. He slid to the other side of the ice block and pushed it forward. The ice block began to slide to the wall, near the opening on the right part of the room.

"C'mon, guys! And be careful when on the ice!" Vector said. He got himself warm again, seeing his breath in the air and gently slid to the ice block near the wall.

Everyone else followed what he did, sans Knuckles, who tried to make things go faster by fast-walking. However, he caught himself off-guard and slipped and fell, sliding head first into the ice block. Everyone laughed as the echidna looked annoyed.

"Shut up, you lot…" he muttered, getting onto the ice block. Everyone followed suite and entered inside the door ahead.

Upon entering, the group could see that they were in a very enclosed space, with what seemed like some sort of hook coming around on the ceiling. Charmy, confused as to what it was, grabbed on. He was taken off guard when it began to take him away.

"U-UH! VECTOR! HEEE-LP!"

"Dun worry, Charmy! I'm comin'!" Vector yelled. Another hook came around as Vector grabbed on, following after Charmy. More and more came around, and then Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy grabbed on as well. The hooks began to take them around multiple twists and turns, rather quickly as well.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Tails said. "And I've gone super-fast before with you, Sonic…"

"Don't try to think about it, pal! Just breathe in and out!" he said. Truth be told, even the hedgehog felt sick now that all these turns were happening at such a fast speed. What was it about these that made him feel sick?

Fortunately, before anything could happen, the group let go when they saw land. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy saw that Vector and Charmy were already there.

"Is Charmy okay?" asked Amy.

"I'm doing peachy, Amy!" he replied. "Sure, even after Vector gave me a chewing out…"

"Hey, better than to be disciplined so ya dun do it again then fer ya to continue on doin' it," Vector crossed his arms.

"Okay guys, that's enough arguing. Right now, we should focus on finding that Chaos Emerald, and getting out of here. I'm sure even with that on, you're still cold as heck, Vector, right?" Sonic said.

"Ya betcha."

"That proves my point. C'mon."

The blue hedgehog touched the door with no handle and saw that it was another one of the self-opening doors. Entering inside, they saw a large icy structure, surrounded by these ice statues, and a robot guarding some sort of large pit.

"It's one of Eggman's robots! What's it doing here?" Charmy asked.

"Dang it… Eggman knows we're already here…" Vector said.

"You know…why does Eggman want you guys dead if you're going to bring back the Chaos Emeralds?" Amy asked.

"Because we're his enemy, you know this, Amy," Sonic said.

"Yeah but… if he's trying to kill you, he won't be getting those Chaos Emeralds. It would be a loss for him too."

Vector sighed. "Even without the Emeralds, Eggman still is gonna do what he plans to do-"

Suddenly, Knuckles interrupted.

"Uh, hello? Are we by any chance going to destroy that robot?"

"Geez, take a chill pill, Knux. I'm goin', I'm goin."

Vector climbed up the icy pillars and snuck up to the robot. He tapped its shoulder, and as soon as it turned around, Vector punched it through the face, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter on impact.

"Dang, looks like he's not going to be in another story," Sonic said. "What a shame."

Making his way across the pillars, Vector dodged the ice statues, which began to start blowing some sort of icy breath. The crocodile made sure to dodge each attack and finally reached his target.

"What is this?" he asked, walking up to the device.

It was a very large goblet that shot out a deep red flame. There was a bottle on the floor and Vector picked it up. When he did, he noticed that there was a message sprawled across the bottle.

"FIRE = BOTTLE" was all it said.

"Fire equals bottle? What in the hell does that mean?"

Vector stood idle, thinking about certain possibilities. He came up with one, but was conflicted on whether or not it actually would work.

"Hey, worth a shot."

Nervously looking for an opening, Vector gripped the bottle as in just one quick swipe; put the bottle into the fire. He took it out a second later and saw that the fire was… now in the bottle.

"Whoa… that's weird," The crocodile said. He could feel the warmth of the fire as he held the bottle in his hand.

"Well, no time to waste, I better head back down!"

"Vector! Are you okay?" Sonic called out.

"And there's mah cue!"

Vector got down from the ledge with the flaming goblet and walked over to where the group was.

"There you are!" Charmy said. "I was getting worr- hey, what's that?"

The bee child pointed to the bottle, which then caught the attention of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy.

"Is that… fire in a bottle?" Sonic asked.

"How'd you do that? Is that even possible?" added Knuckles.

"It is possible, just you need the right amount of equipment to accurately do that, and we don't have it," Tails said.

"Well, if ya guys wanna know, I found this goblet with fire shootin' out from it, and this bottle on the ground. One thing led to another and I put the bottle through the flames, and presto! Got what's in here!" Vector explained.

"That's really cool! But… what are you going to do with it? If it's in this temple, then there's bound to be a place where you can use that," Amy said.

"Eh… that I dun really know… I'll think of somethin' though!"

"So that's it for this room?" Sonic asked.

"Yup, I think so. Let's head out."

Vector walked over to the moving hooks and grabbed on, everyone else following suite.

* * *

Exiting the room, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were back in the ice block puzzle. Getting down from where they were, the group slid only briefly on the ice as they saw that there was still one ice block left. However, it was towards the top right corner of the room, and there would have been no way to get it right on top of the second opening in the wall.

"Dun worry, I'll see if I can do somethin' 'bout this," Vector said. He began to slide to the ice block, making sure he didn't slip and fall into the ravine on the side.

He was able to make it, and pushed the ice block to the right. The head honcho of the Chaotix was surprised to see that it stopped, and when he took a look at why that was the cause, it had stopped on a large chunk of ice.

"Now that I look at this place more… there's quite a fair amount of these… I'll need to do this perfectly then…"

Vector got behind the ice block and pushed it forward. It slid until it hit another ice block. Sliding to it, he then pushed it left, where it stopped when it hit the snowy floor from the door leading outside of the room.

And so on, Vector kept pushing the block this way and that. The block was now being slid to the left and hit the last ice chunk of the room. Finally, he got behind the ice block and pushed it forward one last time. It finally stayed in place.

"Whew!" Vector said, wiping his forehead.

"Alright, Vector! You did it!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Eh heh heh, it was nothin', Charmy…"

Team Sonic and Amy slid over to the group, all of whom patted him on the back.

"You did a real good job, Vector!" Amy complimented. Vector blushed.

"Now that this place is open, let's go to it, shall we?" Tails asked. The crocodile nodded and got on top of the ice block, waiting for everyone else.

When the group finally arrived, they walked down the narrow hallway and found a door being blocked off by a large block of red ice. Charmy rushed over to lick it, but came off from it seconds later.

"Charmy? Why didja do that?" Vector asked.

"I thought that ice was cherry flavored!" Charmy pouted.

"Where… didja come up with that?"

"It's red isn't it? Red things are usually cherry flavored!"

Vector rolled his eyes, but didn't let it bother him. Charmy WAS a child after all.

Knuckles walked up to the ice and began to punch it, but not even a chip of ice came off.

"Why… are… my… punches… not… working!" Knuckles grumbled.

"I think I got a better idea, Knux, ya can stop punchin' that thing," Vector said, walking up to the red echidna. He stopped punching and moved out of the way, leaving room for the crocodile.

Opening the bottle he was holding, Vector tipped it as the flames came out. It hit the ice and began to melt away. The flames continued to aggrandize as it came out from the bottle, the ice melted faster and faster, until it became nothing. Even the snow on the ground had melted, revealing a stone tiling.

After the ice melted, Vector placed the bottle in Charmy's knapsack.

"Well, there we go. No physical labor needed," The large green reptile said.

Since there was no door, he went through the opening in the wall. Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy followed suite.

Now into the new room, the group could see that they were in a room filled with pillars.

"What's this room about?" Knuckles asked

"I'm guessing we're going to have to jump on one of these pillars to the other side," theorized Tails.

"Then let's just go in the middle, there doesn't seem to be anythin' hard 'bout this room," Vector replied.

The crocodile jumped onto the pillar in the middle, as Sonic jumped onto the pillar to the right of him.

"Hey, Sonic, arentcha gonna be followin' behind me?" Vector asked.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, I'm gonna be taking this route instead!" he replied.

Knuckles and Amy did the same that Sonic was doing, go onto a different pillar that near Vector's. The red echidna got onto the pillar to Vector's left, meanwhile, Amy onto the one next to Sonic.

"Alrighty, the gang's all here," Vector said, looking up to see Tails and Charmy flying above him. "Let's try not to slip, so here we go-"

All of a sudden, Vector's pillar shifted. He almost slipped and fell, but he soon realized what it was.

The pillar was about to crumble down.

"GUYS, RUN!" he yelled. The other three freaked out and began to jump as their pillars began to crumble down. Each time someone got on top of a pillar, it began to crumble down immediately. It became a rush for the four to make it to the end, trying to find a pillar that wasn't crumbling.

Amy was the first to make it to the other side, followed by Knuckles. Vector had barely made it. However, it was when they heard a distress call that their jaws nearly dropped.

"Uh… guys?! ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE ME HERE?!" Sonic yelled. There was nowhere for the blue hedgehog to advance, meaning he was now a sitting duck. The group could see that Sonic actually looked… scared.

"Don't worry, Sonic! I'm coming!" Tails yelled out. He zoomed towards his best friend and picked him up just as the pillar he was standing on began to crumble down.

"Phew! I was seconds from being a frozen hedgehog! Thanks pal," Sonic said.

"No problem! You know I didn't want to see you get hurt," Tails replied. The two returned back to where the group was, and the two tailed fox let Sonic go.

"Are you hurt, Sonic? Are you? Are you?" Charmy asked.

"Don't worry about it, Charmy. This isn't the biggest thing to happen to me," Sonic wiped his arm.

"Oh, Sonic! I was so worried about you!" cried Amy.

 _"Aren't you always whenever something that could potentially hurt me in anyway shape or form?"_ The hedgehog thought to himself.

"Hey, Vector, what's next now that we got past this room? Think we're gonna deal with Orbot and Cubot?" Knuckles asked.

"Huh… I dunno, and speakin' of that… we haven't seen Orbot or Cubot at all in this temple," Vector mused.

"Maybe we passed by them and we don't have to deal with them today!" Charmy replied.

"Naw, we would eventually come to face them if that were the case. I just wouldn't worry 'bout it, I dun wanna waste mah time on those guys anyway."

Vector opened the door to the next room, which lead to a room with ice all over the floor, along with several rocks.

"So what about this room?" Amy asked.

"Oh, I think I see! We just have to run into the rock, that in turn, stops us, and we just go from there until we see the exit!" Tails explained.

Knuckles looked at the rock closest to the group and walked on the ice. The red echidna slid to the rock and stopped when his leg hit the boulder.

"Knux! Head up!" Vector yelled out. Knuckles slid upwards and hit the rock just few feet away from where the last one was.

"Now to the right!"

It went on for many minutes, with the group yelling out ways to go.

"Left!"

"To the wall!"

"Down!"

"Right!"

And it went on and on until Knuckles finally reached the final rock to where the exit was.

"Alright, Knux!" Sonic called out. "All you need to do is head to the right, and you're good to go!"

The emerald guardian nodded as he slid to the right. Upon getting onto the floor of the exit, he stepped on some sort of switch that melted the ice of the floor. The group was surprised to see this happen and immediately headed over to where Knuckles was.

"Yeh did it, Knux! Good job! Sure we helped ya but still! Good job!" Vector complimented. He patted his friend's back.

"Hey, couldn't have done it without you guys," The guardian responded.

"Let's go on!" Charmy exclaimed, pointing his finger forward.

* * *

Entering the new room, the group saw that there was a large hole in the middle that led down to some sort of… floor? Vector looked down with caution.

"Guys… I dun like the look of that… we gotta be careful…"

"I agree, Tails, Charmy, can you take us down there?" asked Amy.

"No problem, Amy!" Tails said. He began to use his tails to fly as Charmy used his wings. The fox grabbed Sonic, Knuckles grabbed the hedgehog, and Amy grabbed the echidna and the bee grabbed the crocodile, and descended their way down.

Upon entering the room, the group was entirely surprised to see that the room was a… throne room completely made out of ice. The room shined as if it were a precious metal.

Reaching the ground, the group looked in awe at the room.

"Imagine the sculpting work for this…" Tails said in awe.

It was then that the group noticed a icy throne, and sitting upon it was none other than Orbot and Cubot.

"Well, it's quite a surprise to see you all here…" Orbot said.

"You two?! You better explain what your ugly mugs are doing here!" Sonic said, pointing his finger at the two robots.

Orbot wagged his finger. "Ah ah ah, it isn't nice to be rude, Sonic. If you wish to know, since Dr. Eggman gave us strict rules, we've decided to take a bigger role and stop being nothing more than comic relief, comic relief that doesn't even matter anymore!"

"Oh my gosh! Are you guys saying you're ACTUALLY going to do something for once?!" Charmy exclaimed.

"You bet, kid! As a matter of fact, we've got a little surprise for all of you!" Cubot replied. "Come out now! Your dinner has arrived!"

"Huh? Dinner?" asked Knuckles.

It was then that the sound of something banging against the wall was audible. Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy turned around to see parts of the wall starting to crack.

All of a sudden, the wall completely collapsed as dust and debris went everywhere. The group covered their eyes and mouth, feeling the wind blow against them. They looked up to see a large, hulking rhinoceros looking creature, standing at around ten feet. His eyes were a complete solid green as the veins of his muscles budged.

"Behold! Buzz, guardian of this temple! After convincing him to join our side, we'll be using him as a scapegoat to collect the remaining Chaos Emeralds, after killing you all first of course!" Orbot exclaimed. "Fufufu… this is going to be an interesting fight…"

Orbot and Cubot relaxed on the throne as Buzz roared at the ground. He took his fist and began to smash it down, however everyone was able to dodge it just in time.

"Dang, how are we gonna beat this guy?!" Vector said. "He's different compared to the last few things we've fought!"

"Let's try to find a weak point first!" Tails called out, dodging Buzz's foot from squashing him. "Until then, there's nothing we can do until run, run, run!"

Everyone nodded and began to run away. However, Buzz began to follow behind very quickly. Steam emanated from his nostrils as he ran over to where the group was, punching his fist into the ground. Ice shards went everywhere as the group was sent a few feet off the ground. They quickly got up as Buzz began to look for the closest target. He locked his eyes on Amy.

"Oh no you don't, you filthy beast!" she exclaimed. The pink hedgehog took out her hammer, and swung it as hard as she could on Buzz's leg. However, it did absolutely nothing, and he slammed Amy to the wall using his foot. Amy yelped as she hit the wall.

"AMY!" Sonic called out. He ran over to the pink hedgehog and found that she was okay.

"Okay bud, when you hurt my friends, you know you're in big trouble!" The blue hedgehog said. He spin dashed all the way to Buzz's arm and climbed on top of it. The rhino shook his arm in an attempt to shake Sonic off, but the blue hedgehog used his spin attack move, hitting Buzz in his head twice. He got confused and fell to the ground.

Vector and Knuckles looked at each other and nodded, running up to Buzz. They grabbed him with all their strength and tossed him into the air. Charmy buzzed up quickly, and pointing his stinger at Buzz's back, let out the largest sting he could. Upon making contact, Buzz roared as he fell back to the ground, and then quickly got back up. It was visible that the stinger was now lodged deeper into Buzz's back.

Amy now was back on her feet, and accompanied her friends once again.

"It looks like we'll need to find a way to hit Buzz on his head!" Tails said. "Let's try a different way this time, however! He probably might be expecting you to do it again!"

"Gotcha! Lemme just distract this thing, and one of you guys, be ready for the attack!" Sonic said, cracking his knuckles. The blue hedgehog began to speed off in a circle, causing Buzz to spin in place.

"Tails! Fly me up to Buzz's head!" Amy exclaimed as she gripped her hammer. The two tailed fox nodded and grabbed Amy, flying up to Buzz's head.

"Buzz! Look behind you!" Orbot yelled out. Buzz followed command, but before he could do anything, Amy bashed him against the head. The rhino could see stars as he fell to the ground.

"Amy, when Knux and I throw this thing, be ready to attack it with yer hammer like we did with Flamin' Phoenix!" Vector explained as he and the emerald guardian ran to Buzz.

"Okay!"

The two power type mobians picked up Buzz and threw him into the air. Amy swung her hammer with one good swing as Buzz crashed into the wall. Blood covered his skin as he got up and roared again, crashing his fists together. Fire suddenly formed in his fists.

"Uh-oh…" Charmy said.

Buzz came rushing towards the group, sending firey and fast punches. It was a miracle that the group was able to dodge them all.

The rhino targeted Knuckles and sent out a barrage of punches. The echidna dodged a few of the fists as he punched a few times.

Buzz slapped Knuckles away and held out his fist, hoping to critically injure the echidna. However, Vector got next to Knuckles, and the two held out their hands, stopping Buzz in his tracks. With all their strength, the crocodile and echidna pushed the rhino back.

After some time, they took their hands off from Buzz's fist, and gave the hardest punch they could. Buzz roared in pain as he grasped his hand, which seemed to be limp.

Tails ran in between Buzz's legs and used his tails attack, causing him to do a split. He yelled once again as he stomped his foot on the ground once he got back up.

"Alrighty, guys! Listen up! I gotta plan!" Vector exclaimed. "Someone, get Buzz on the ground!"

"I'll take it from here!" Sonic replied. He sped off and once again, confused the rhino. This time, the blue hedgehog spin dashed right into Buzz's shin. He felt a bone crack as he fell to the ground on his chest.

"EVERYONE, ATTACK!" Vector yelled. The crocodile spat out many fire balls, each one scarring Buzz's face more. After six fire balls, Sonic used his homing attack to attack Buzz's back, and then his head. Then, Tails used his tails attack to confuse Buzz into not getting up. Knuckles then began to punch away at Buzz's face, more and more blood coming out of his mouth. Charmy then used his stinger and stung many parts of Buzz's body. Finally, Amy smashed down her hammer on the back of Buzz's head.

The group breathed in and out, wondering if they had defeated the beast. Charmy looked away from the rather gruesome sight.

"B-Buzz?" asked Orbot and Cubot with worriment. Somehow, Buzz had survived it all, getting on his good foot and roaring once again. He began to stomp on the ground in anger, which was now beginning to crack.

"Buzz! No, stop it! You're going to destroy the arena!" Orbot yelled out.

Buzz didn't listen. He continued to stomp on the ground continuously.

Finally, after the ground cracked to the point of reaching where the group stood, the entire floor of the arena became shattered. The pure force of it sent the throne where Orbot and Cubot were falling down into an abyss. The two robots screamed as they fell.

Buzz attempted to stop his fall, but couldn't in any way. Vector, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy yelled as they hoped Charmy and Tails would come to their help. Fortunately, they did, and the bee helped his guardian while the two tailed fox caught all his best friends.

"We made it…" Tails mused. "We all actually made it…"

"I can't say the same though…" Vector said as his eyes were locked on Buzz, who lay on his back. The group walked up to him, and noticed that his eyes were no longer red, but his pupils were black and his irises purple.

"Buzz? Can ya hear us?" Vector asked.

"Are you… are you enemy?" Buzz asked. The crocodile shook his head.

"That's good to hear… I no longer have to face anymore enemies…"

"Wait… whaddya mean by that?"

"All the pain I suffered in that fight, plus that fall has now destroyed my body… I have no reason to live anymore…"

"Sure you do! There's so many candy and sweets you'll be missing out on!" Charmy replied.

"That sounds… delicious… I would love to try some… before the end…"

"I… dun have any… we're sorry…"

Buzz simply continued to look up.

"That is okay… at least you are honest… not like cheapskate Dr. Eggman…"

"Eggman? What's he gotta do with this?" Sonic asked.

"Eggman manipulated me into coming to this temple and being the guardian… he promised me that I will have a place to go, nowhere else but here. Little did I know… this man would eventually lead to my death…"

Buzz reached out his hand to Vector.

"New friends… do not see me as harmless… I am simply a large creature who was tricked into dying. This is not your fault… had Eggman never existed, my life would be different. You could have done nothing to prevent this when I became irrational. And now… my pain and suffering caused by my actions ends…"

Buzz coughed blood as he felt himself getting weaker by the minute.

"It is my understanding that you are looking for the Chaos Emeralds, no? Well, I happen to be guarding one, and I will let you have it as a thank you present…"

"O-Oh… thanks dude…" Sonic said.

Buzz slapped the floor as the doors behind him opened.

"Please… be sure to give Dr. Eggman a good attack as a last minute goodbye from me…"

"We… we will…" Amy was now crying, realizing that she was about to watch someone die from their injuries.

"And… crocodile? I can tell that you are worried about a friend, and that you deeply care about him. I know that in your heart, that person will know that you mean so much to them like they do to you."

Vector gasped.

"Alas… my time on this world as ended… ancestors… I have joined your kind now… was I… a strong fighter?"

Buzz fell limp.

Amy cried out as she walked over to the beast, shaking him back and forth. Charmy watched in sadness as everyone else lowered their heads.

Soon, everyone in the room was now grieving the death of Buzz, a simple and calm beast manipulated into evil, who finally came to his senses at the end.

After a moment of silence, everyone looked up at each other, and knew what to do. They walked into the altar room, light blue flames on torches that lit up the walls. Just like always, a pillar lay in the middle, holding a light blue Chaos Emerald. Vector grabbed it, but instead of him or anyone else making a positive comment, everyone fell silent as Vector turned around, and stared at Buzz's now dead body.

"Buzz… this one's fer ya, man…"

* * *

After being taken outside of the temple via the veil of light, the group could see that the snowstorm was now picking up. Vector's blood became cold to the bone as his winter clothes flapped in the wind.

"Come on, guys! It'll be impossible to get off this mountain if we don't hurry up!" Tails yelled as he made his way to the Tornado 2, everyone else following behind.

The two tailed fox started the airplane up and sped off. He swerved left and right, the winds pushing the Tornado 2 around. To avoid stalling, Tails pushed the throttle downwards, going up. He began to maneuver the airplane into the clouds.

"Guys, we might be having some turbulence, watch out! Especially you, Sonic! Hang on!" Tails said. Just as the Tornado 2 entered the clouds, everyone could feel a jolt as the blue hedgehog almost fell off.

"Sonic!" yelled Amy. He was able to grab on at the last second.

"Get up, man! We ain't gonna lose ya now!" Vector called out.

"I'm… I'm trying! I can hang on until we get out of this cloud!" The blue blur replied.

"If we have to drag your corpse out of here, I'm not attending your funeral," Knuckles said sourly. "That'll be your fault."

"Geez, same to you buddy." Sonic lowered his eyelids.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the Tornado 2 came out from the clouds, allowing Sonic to get back on the wings. The snow had finally stopped, meaning they were out of the Snowrush Mountains.

"We should return back to Station Square and get lookin' fer the next emerald," Vector said to Tails.

"You're right, take a look at the map, find where we're going to go next," replied the two tailed fox.

Vector got the map out from Charmy's knapsack, opening it up. A far off location to the west of Station Square burned into the parchment. However, it wasn't a specific place. It seemed to just be the location of the temple.

"I already got it. I'll show it to ya when we get back to Station Square."

"Okay, just sit tight for the time being, I don't think it'll be long before we're back." Tails said. "So just sit tight for now."

Vector nodded, then slumped in his chair, sighing. He wondered how Espio was doing right now. It wasn't even long before the crocodile closed his eyes, having a daydream.

* * *

 _Espio sat in the grass of Little Planet, watching the starry sky above as the plants spun. Vector took notice of the lonely chameleon and sat next to him._

 _"D'ya mind?" he asked._

 _"Not at all," replied Espio. Vector smiled in response._

 _"Whadda view, right?"_

 _"Breathtaking, to say the least."_

 _The two sat in silence, continuing to watch the sky._

 _"Y'know, seeing this sky gives me a lot of hope fer the future," Vector commented._

 _"Oh?"_

 _"Yeah, like, I know that things are gonna go swell for us in terms of cases and money. I'm hopin' fer that anyway."_

 _"That's good. Seeing this sky reminds me of whom I am, and reminds me of the beauties of this world."_

 _"Fer all the Eggman invasions, Mobius still has that charm to it, doesn't it?"_

 _"Agreed."_

 _"Say, Espio… are there any important people in yer life?"_

 _"Of course… why are you asking?"_

 _"I dunno… just… bein' here makes me wanna talk 'bout life,"_

 _"There's nothing wrong with that."_

 _"So, who's important to ya the most?"_

 _"You and Charmy of course. You two are probably the greatest friends I've ever had, even if sometimes it looks like I want to drive myself up the wall."_

 _Vector chuckled. "Well, that's good to hear. I think outta all mah friends, I trust ya the most."_

 _"Really?"_

 _"Yeah, yer a really trustworthy guy. I'd even keep all mah life's secrets with ya. That's how much I trust ya."_

 _"Wow… I… never really knew that…"_

 _"Yeah, and that's why I consider ya mah best friend."_

 _"Ha ha… friend…"_

 _"Yeah… heh heh…"_

 _The two awkwardly giggled. Even they knew about the feelings they couldn't outright say aloud._

 _"Espio, I wanna ask ya somethin'… is there anyone special in yer life?" Vector asked._

 _"Well, I just said it, didn't I?" Espio replied._

 _"Naw naw, I mean, a lover, a soulmate. That sorta thing."_

 _"Oh… I-uhh…"_

 _Espio's face was full of sheepishness, scales becoming red due to embarrassment._

 _"Well, I'm not particularly looking for someone. I mean, my masters told me about love and how it doesn't need to be a top priority. Yet… someone has caught my eye…"_

 _"Hm? Really now. Who?"_

 _It was then that Vector felt something on his hand. He looked down to see Espio's hand on his own._

 _"Oh…" he thought to himself, turning red._

 _And then, just when things was at its peak with what Espio did, it was what he said next that changed everything._

 _"It's you."_

* * *

A sudden bump caused Vector to break out of his trance. He opened his eyes quickly.

"Hungh?" was all he mustered out. "We're here already?"

"Yeah. You just sorta fell asleep the whole way!" Charmy replied.

 _"If only ya knew, Charmy…"_ The crocodile thought.

That dream… it all came back around to the end. His strange thoughts while on the mountains of Snowrush, his philosophical looks earlier this morning, etc. It all came back to him as he remembered his dream.

It suddenly hit Vector like a train.

"Maybe… maybe how I feel 'bout Espio is… startin' to change…"

He always heard from the chameleon that it's good to accept reality. It seemed like that was the case here.

Everyone got off from the Tornado 2 as Vector got the map out again. He opened it and showed the group its location.

"I should be able to track it on my tracker. Let's just use the map for the meantime, however," Tails said.

"Alrighty, get that, and let's head out!"

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ON EGGMAN'S SHIP**

 _The sounds of a shower running echoed on the walls. Steam filled the room as Espio found himself standing in front of Vector, who had his back turned against him. The chameleon watched as the crocodile washed himself from head to toe. It was then that he turned around and smiled._

 _"Hey there, Espio!" he said. "Wanna take a long, hot shower with me?"_

 _Espio's scales turned incredibly red. He wanted to use his ninja stealth ability to hide his embarrassment, but he couldn't. The ninja walked up to his boss, his friend._

 _That was right, his friend…_

 _"I thought you'd never ask…" he said in his usual tone. Vector held Espio as the two felt the warm water splash down on their bodies._

 _"No one's here… right?" Vector asked._

 _"It doesn't seem so," replied the chameleon._

 _"Heh heh, well then, looks like we got this place all to ourselves, don't we?"_

 _Espio nodded as he laid his head on the crocodile's chest._

 _All of a sudden, he heard a tapping noise, as if someone was moving the steel bars of a jail cell._

 _"What's that noise?" questioned Vector._

 _"I'm not too sure, but who's to say that's important?"_

 _Vector looked down at Espio and smiled. "Yeah, yer right. They can wait later, right now; it's just me and yeh…"_

 _The two awkwardly chuckled as the tapping continued. Then, a voice began to call out Espio's name. The fuchsia reptile ignored it however, and closed his eyes, getting on his tip toes to reach up to Vector's mouth and-_

* * *

"Espio, are you there?!"

Espio freaked out, waking up violently as he thrashed around. He looked around his environments to see that he was unfortunately, not in a shower with Vector all alone, but back in his cell. He turned his head to the side to see that the person who was making all the noises in his dream were Orbot and Cubot, who stood behind the cell.

"Oh… it's just you two…" Espio coldly said. "What do you want?"

"There's no reason to be hostile, we're not going to do anything bad. We promise," Orbot said as he and Cubot held out their hands, shaking them.

"Well, you still haven't answered my question. Why are you here?"

"Since Dr. Eggman has now made us undergo slave labor after your friends collected the fifth emerald, one of the things he now has us do is visit you regardless on our feelings towards you. Mainly so that you "don't get deathly bored." Can you believe him?"

"I dunno, I think it's good that we're visiting him!" Cubot replied.

"That's because you're you, Cubot."

"I see… in any case, you both interrupted a daydream I was having, a very good daydream at that…"

Espio's face turned red.

"I see… shall we leave you alone then?" Orbot asked.

"No… I… I don't mind having company. Besides, not like I have anyone else to talk to."

The two robots sat down (well, what they considered as "sitting"), looking at the chameleon.

Espio began first talking.

"Orbot, Cubot, do you two ever… miss someone?" he asked.

"Miss someone? Well, I can't say…" Cubot replied.

"Dr. Eggman is the only closest person we know, and the only ones at that. " Orbot added.

"No I mean, any robot in particular…"

"That… we can't answer… we're sorry, Espio..,"

He sighed, and slumped back on the floor, back on the wall.

 _"Figures…"_

Then he got a new idea.

"Okay, here's some food for thought. Imagine both of you got separated. What would you do?" Espio asked.

"Well, first I would celebrate, then realize what I was doing and get worried for you to the point where I'd go out and find you," Orbot said.

"Aww, you really do care about me!" Cubot replied. Orbot shook his head.

"Well, if I may ask, why do you wish to know about this?" Orbot said after taking his attention away from Cubot.

"What you said about being worried about someone, I feel that right now…" Espio responded as he looked into space.

"Let me guess, Vector right?"

He didn't even need to say a word. The two robots already knew.

"A friend… a special someone… yes, that person is Vector…"

Orbot and Cubot's eyes became filled with sorrow.

"I'm sure that Vector will eventually come to you, Espio. After all, Dr. Eggman really doesn't care all too much about your presence on the ship," Cubot said.

It was strange to hear the enemy giving him… sympathy. However, he softly smiled and nodded.

"Thank you two both, for hearing me out. It's strange… being comforted by the enemy, isn't it?"

"I agree, I wasn't quite expecting this," said Orbot.

The three sat in silence for some time until Espio broke it.

"So… this may sound completely odd, but… erm… I don't suppose one of you two could get me out of here, no?"

The two robots looked at the chameleon as if he were insane.

"What? No, we can't do that!" Orbot exclaimed. "You're still our prisoner regardless! And don't try to get any funny ideas either like last time!"

"Yeah, escape and who knows what'll happen!" Cubot added, trying to sound intimidating.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry…" replied Espio.

"Ugh… I think our time here has been long enough, come Cubot, perhaps we shall visit him later," Orbot said as he began to leave. The yellow robot followed behind as Espio stayed put where he was.

He sighed, and slumped his head on his arms.

"Vector… they said that you have five emeralds now… I hope you come soon…"

 _"…you heart stealer…"_


	7. 6: The damn sixth Chaos Emerald

**(AN: Why hello! It's time for a new chapter! And what an appropriate chapter title, because its time for the Chaotix and the gang to tackle the sixth temple! And it just so happens a surprise appearance also in this chapter too!**

 **I've got nothing new to really report other than that there's only two chapters left until this story ends! D: all the sads. Don't worry, I'll try to make these last few chapters as good as I possibly can! Other than that, nothing really new. I have however picked back up Sonic Heroes and beat Team Rose's story in the span of two days, getting all but two Chaos Emeralds (already had the second one). I'm almost done with that game, lemme tell ya. Only have those two Emeralds and Team Chaotix's and Last Story left and that's it XD**

 **Anyway, as a last minute thing, if any of you mind, d'ya mind leaving a review or two? Activity on this fic has been a bit slow, and I'd love to see how you guys think of the story! Thanks!**

 **Without further ado, let's begin!)**

* * *

Cracks in the wall formed as dust from the dirt began to fill the room. A small ray of sunshine shined on the crack forming as the entire wall crumbled down.

Knuckles took a step back, lowering his fists.

"Well, we're here now," The red echidna replied.

"Great, now let's find the temple! Vector said.

The group was in a rather isolated area of Mobius, no inhabitants as far as the eye could see. They had found where the map had led them too while going through incredible gusts of wind (to the point where Charmy had almost blown away). However, they had went through the challenges and successfully managed to get across.

Entering inside the new hole Knuckles opened, Vector took a note at how tight the corridors of the room were.

 _"Espio surely wouldn't like this place-"_

Vector stopped himself.

 _"No no no! Yer thinkin' 'bout Espio in a time like this?! Ya may only have two emeralds left, Vec, but now's not the time to think about him!"_ he thought. The crocodile wanted to punch himself, to scream. Why was he letting himself think about Espio again? Not only will the feeling of sadness come back to him, but of loneliness and guilt too.

 _"If I just dun think 'bout him, then everything should be okay… right?"_

Vector faked a smile as he kept moving on.

…but he couldn't even lie to himself.

 _"What's the point? Yeh know yer scared 'bout his safety and anxious 'bout him, Vec…"_

Thinking about all of this started to make the crocodile see Espio in an even newer light than before. But as always, the same result came. Vector shook his head, and entered a stage of denial.

He had never felt this way before. With someone as upbeat and loud as Vector, it was strange to see his personality take a complete 360. All his friends were still the same, so why wasn't he?

Before he could think of an answer, the group had reached the end of the tight corridors. They stood around a large well.

"I'll go down there, first," Amy said. The pink hedgehog got onto the side of the well and jumped down. Everyone else followed suite, either coming out with minor pain, or narrowly avoiding a broken collarbone.

When the group had entered the temple, they were nearly blown away by a statue letting out powerful gusts of wind.

"Hold on, guys, I've got this," Sonic said as he began to speed in the direction of the statue. He tried to go faster and faster, but the winds kept on going. He was knocked to the ground.

"Sonic!" Charmy yelled out.

"Don't worry… I'm fine…" Sonic replied, getting up.

"How are we gonna get across now?" Knuckles asked.

"This is going to require a bit of thinking…" Tails mused. "What kind of thing should we use to let us get through?"

Everyone began to think about ideas.

"Ooh, maybe we can throw stuff at it!" The bee exclaimed.

"Nice idea, but not what I need," replied the two tailed fox. "I think I have something… It'll involve Sonic though."

"Me? What for?"

* * *

After getting the blue hedgehog back on his feet, Sonic held the hands of all of his friends as his quills blew in the air.

"You sure this idea will work?" The blue blur asked.

"It's what I like to believe: you have to try every idea you come up with, even if something about it seems ridiculous," replied Tails.

"I just hope this is going to work."

Sonic began to speed towards the statue blowing wind. He felt himself becoming weaker and weaker as the statue continued to blow more gusts.

Yet, he somehow reached the other side. Sonic moved right to head to the next room as every could feel the wind now. Amy's dress, Knuckles' dreadlocks, Tails' fur, and Charmy's antenna all blew in the wind as Sonic brought them to the other side.

"Phew… we made it…" Sonic said.

"See? I told you that anything could be possible," Tails said, getting close to Sonic.

"Well, looks like I didn't really know that. Guess I've learned something new today, and something new to try out. Sorry I kinda doubted you in the beginning, pal."

"It's alright. Now come on, we have a temple to beat."

The group entered the next room, which seemed to be the main temple of the room. A fan spun in the middle of the room as various holes in the wall were scattered everywhere.

"Is it just me, or does this place remind me of the second temple?" Vector asked Sonic.

"It's not just you."

"Wow… there are so many places to go… where do we start first? And how do we go up?" Amy asked.

"Vector and I have our own glide abilities. As for the former, not sure, but we'll find something eventually," Knuckles responded.

"Yer right, Knux. Alrighty, let' go up… there!" He pointed to a hole in the wall just a few feet up high.

"What makes you say that?"

"Detective's intuition!"

Charmy buzzed up to the red echidna. "Or in other words "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING."

"CHARMY! DUN THINK I DUN HEAR THAT!"

"Eh heh… whoops…" response.

Vector, choosing to ignore what Charmy had said, pulled out a piece of gum and began to chew it. He got in the middle as the small bee buzzed up to him quickly so that the current wouldn't take him away as Team Sonic held hands.

"Wait, wait for me!" Amy called out. She got in between Sonic and Tails and smiled when she looked at the blue hedgehog. Sonic simply rolled his eyes in response.

Vector jumped up as he and Charmy were sent flying upwards, then following by Team Sonic and Amy. The group descended towards the hole that Vector had pointed out earlier.

Going through the door, the group was now in a room with yet another gust of wind. However, a flower lay in the middle.

"Ooh, pretty flowers!" Charmy exclaimed, buzzing over to it. He sniffed it, smiling.

"Smells so nice… Vector, can I keep it?"

"No, Charmy… ya can't keep the flower."

"Aw…" The bee's face fell.

"Hey, didn't we encounter something like this before?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, during the whole Metal Overlord thing. Wasn't this in the Lost Jungle?" Tails replied.

"That must be it! So I guess we do the same that we did last time. Stand back guys."

Sonic did his Tornado Attack move, causing everyone to hang onto each other's legs as Sonic held onto the base of the flower. The flower's pedals began to spin in place as the flower flew away. The winds carried the flower away as it spiraled, went back and forth and soon enough, entered inside a hole. The group covered their eyes as multiple things hit their faces.

"What... *cough* kind of place is this?!" asked Knuckles.

"Not too sure, Knux, but all I know is that it ain't a pretty one!" replied Vector.

The flower's pedals ended up dropping to the floor as everyone fell down, Sonic still holding onto the 'stem' of the floor.

Before they could go into the bottomless black pit, a gust of wind pushed the group back up.

"We're saved!" said Amy in surprise.

However, Charmy got sucked up by something to his side. He yelled as he got taken away.

"Oh god. Oh no no no no no, this is not good!" Vector said frantically. He followed the bee to the same location. However, when he got pulled in, the crocodile ended up getting stuck.

"Vector? You okay, man?" asked Sonic.

"Oh yeah totally, ha ha- I'M STUCK HERE, WHADDYA THINK?!" Vector yelled in response.

"Lemme guess, been eating a little too much meat, have we?" Knuckles said.

"Ya know crocs are huge eaters! Besides, I ain't fat! This is all muscle like I told ya the last time, Knux! Now hurry up and get me outta here!"

"Well, seeing as how your body has jammed the tube, No air can come out from where we are. You're going to have to do this on your own, Vector," Tails explained.

"W-What? Whaddya mean on mah own?!"

"Just try to slide upwards. It should be enough to let you pass."

Vector grumbled as he did what he was told.

"Stupid gettin' stuck and stupid strong body… gawd, makes me wish fer the days I used to be real skinny…" Vector complained loudly. He moved forward, feeling the occasional blow of wind coming from behind him.

Finally, he had reached where Charmy had. The crocodile took a deep breath (as there wasn't much air in the tube) before landing body first.

"Oof!" he exclaimed.

"Vector, you're here! Why were you like that?" Charmy asked.

"It's a long story, but hey, it can't get worse… can it?"

Just as soon as he said that, the rest of the group came crashing into the room. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy all landed on Vector's back as the crocodile got hurt more and more.

"Ow…" Vector muttered.

"Hm? Oh, Vector! I didn't see you there!" Amy exclaimed. She brought back the crocodile back on his feet.

"Never have I experienced physical pain this great from just my friends…" Vector mused.

"Oh I'm sure you'll be fine, Vec," Sonic said. "Anyway, this new room… what's it about now?"

In the new room, there were in consisted of a large wooden square platform, with four windmills, one on each corner. The group got onto it and felt a current coming from a part of the room.

"Then it looks like this is how we leave this room. The question is, how do you get the windmills to all spin?" Tails asked.

As soon as he did, Vector walked up to the windmill on the bottom left part of the platform and began to push it. The windmill began to slightly move to the right in place as the crocodile looked surprise.

"Found how we're gonna get past this room! Question is, where's the wind comin' from? Without knowin' that, we ain't gonna pass this room!" Vector said.

"Vector's right, we should find which windmill is the correct one," Tails said. The fox moved over to the windmill on the top left, Amy following behind him. Meanwhile, Knuckles got the one of the top right, and Sonic and Charmy got the one of the bottom right.

The group began to move their windmills (sans Charmy and Sonic's windmill, which seemed to be stuck in place), looking for the correct combination to make all of the fans of the windmill spin.

Finally, Knuckles felt something click as a gust of wind blew. It blew his dreadlocks in the air. Sonic resisted the urge not to look at him more.

"Okay, one down! Vector, you're from here!"

"I am?"

"Yup yup!"

The head honcho of the Chaotix found that moving his windmill to face the wall caused the fans to move.

"Alrighty! Now all we got is the last one! Tails, Amy, move yer windmill to have it facin' southeast!"

"Southeast? Got it!" Amy called out. She and the two tailed fox pushed the windmill to the location Vector pointed out to them as wind blew more of the fans. Finally, the wind from Tails and Amy's windmill finally hit Knuckles' windmill. The fans of the windmill grew stronger by the second as they got so fast, they exploded.

Everyone shielded their eyes from the debris as they saw that the room they were trying to get into before was now finally open.

"We did it guys!" Vector exclaimed. "Good teamwork! High five?"

"High five!" Charmy replied, giving his guardian a high five.

"Oh, what the hey," Sonic said, giving his friend a high five.

The group finally focused on their next location. Walking off of the square platform, they entered the new room.

Upon entering, they nearly fell to the ground from shock. They were looking at a tornado.

"Ahh! A tornado!" Charmy screamed. "Get in the underground shelter! Call the weather station-"

"Charmy… CHARMY! It ain't a real tornado! See?" Vector said. The crocodile pointed to the twister, which was simply in midair.

"Oh…" The bee said. "Well, if it isn't real, how is it made?"

"There are just some questions ya can't get answers to, Charmy. That is one of those questions."

"The question should be instead: How are we going to get past that?" Sonic butted in.

"It's simple, I fly through it," replied Tails.

"You? Fly through a tornado? Tails, don't you think that's a bit… dangerous?" asked Amy.

"Hold on, Amy," Knuckles said, holding her shoulder. "Tails is a smart guy, I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

"See? Knuckles trusts me!" The two tailed fox said.

"Well, if ya know what yer doin', then we shouldn't have anythin' to worry 'bout. C'mon, Tails, lead the way," Vector said.

After getting into formation as before, Tails began to move off from the ledge and jumped into the air, spinning his twin tails. He went into the tornado as the twister kept trying to push him down and make him tired. However, through perseverance, Tails was able to reach the other side.

But, when he got onto the platform, he saw that there was now a three way branching path, all with tornado's by their entrances.

"Whew boy, this is gonna be fun," Vector ran his hand through his temples.

"There ought to be SOME way to tell which way is the right way…" Sonic commented.

"Hm… ooh! I got it!" Charmy exclaimed.

Before the group could react, Charmy began to buzz towards one of the tornado's.

"CHARMY! GET BACK HERE!" Vector yelled. "Tails, yer the only one who can fly! Ya gotta save him before something happens to him!"

"On it!-"

However, before Tails could move, the group saw that the bee was still okay, simply moving from tornado to tornado. They were all confused.

"Huh?" asked Amy.

Less than a few seconds later, Charmy pointed to the tornado in front of him.

"Here's where we need to go!" He yelled, buzzing back to the group.

"Are you sure?" asked Sonic.

"Positive!"

"Well, Tails, you know what to do."

"Wait, what I want to know is… how did you know which way was the correct one, Charmy?" The two tailed fox asked.

"I looked through the tornado, and saw if there was a door on the other side. Since the one I pointed out had one while the other's didn't, I think you know what was happened!" Charmy explained.

"Well, explanation aside, we should head there next if that's where the exit to here is. Let's reform!"

After getting into position once again, the group headed to the tornado that the bee had pointed out. Going through the more intense twister proved to be a bit of a challenge, however, that didn't mean anything, and the group was able to head onto the exit.

* * *

When the group entered the new room, they saw that it was entirely inhabited by Eggman robots, specifically, a model with two fans on its wings.

"Whoa!" Charmy exclaimed. "Look at all of Eggman's robots!"

"That's why we gotta take care of them first! Boys-"

Amy looked at the crocodile.

"…AND GIRL… let's take 'em on!"

Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy began to rush forward as the robots noticed them. Many tried to blow back the group with their external fans, but failed.

Using his Tails attack, Tails managed to flip many robots on its side before Knuckles went ahead and crushed them. Amy attacked them with her hammer as Sonic knocked out a few ones.

"Just a little bit more and we should be *grunt* done here!" The pink hedgehog said. She swung it to her side as the robot she hit slammed into the wall, crushed on impact.

"Dang, nice hit, Amy!" Vector complimented as he took off the head of one of the robots and kicked him in the breastplate.

With nothing more than heaps of scrap metal on the floor, it was safe to say that the group managed to destroy all the robots in the room.

In the farthest corner, there seemed to be a switch that a few robots were originally standing by. Vector walked up to it and pushed the switch. As he did, he heard and felt a faint rumbling as in the middle of the room, a fence formed around a large patch of grass. A weather vane stood inches away from the patch of grass as a pump fell down from the ceiling, right in front of the weather valve.

"What does all of this have to do with the temple?" Sonic asked.

"There's a wind recording instrument here… a pump that shoots out air…" Tails muttered to himself. "Oh, I know! We have to pump air to the weather valve, so that, I imagine, it'll start to go up to the ceiling!"

"Nice thinkin', Tails!" Vector complimented. The large green reptile got onto the patch of grass surrounded by a fence (as everyone followed suite) and took the pump. He began to move the pump back and forth, letting more air out to hit the weather vane. It began to spin as the platform began to start rising up.

"Hey, it's working!" Amy exclaimed.

"Wow, something of Vector's is working for once!" Charmy teased. Vector didn't even hear him, as he was busy with trying to get to the top. His pumping got quicker and harder as vane spun faster and faster.

"Surely that thing's not going to fall apart, are we? I have this fear that we're going to drop down…" Knuckles commented.

"Ooooooooh, Knuckie's scared of heightsss~" Sonic teased.

"Say that one more time and I'll sure as hell give YOU something to be afraid of!" Knuckles held up his fists.

"Again, I repeat, ya two guys can kill each other later, just not now!" Vector said, butting into the argument. "Let's just focus on gettin' outta here first!"

The two friendly rivals looked at each other.

* * *

"I must say, do these propellers make me look fat, Cubot?"

"Never! I say you're as good looking as ever!"

"…are you coming onto me?"

Cubot flatly looked at his partner in crime.

"Never mind…"

Just then, a noise behind them startled the two. Orbot and Cubot turned around to see the Chaotix and their group of friends. Upon noticing them, Vector groaned.

"Fer chaos' sake, are we ever gonna go into one o' these temples without runnin' into YEH two?!"

"Oh, you'll be complaining soon, Vector!" Orbot said. "After you destroyed our altar and killed Buzz, we have been looking for nothing more than revenge!"

"Yeah! We've had enough of the games!" Cubot added. "It's time we become the new main role for villain!"

"Excuse me, you two?!" Sonic asked, sounding like he was about to start laughing.

"Yeah! After Eggman made us become servants after what happened in the last temple, we decided to sneak out under his wing and prove to him we can beat all of you! Now, watch this trick!"

Orbot and Cubot put on a stance as they activated their propellers. They began to start gliding in midair, and positioned themselves towards the crocodile.

"Vector, aren't you going to move?!" Amy yelled frantically.

The large green reptile didn't respond, simply continued to look at the two robots ready to attack him at any moment. Finally, Orbot and Cubot came rushing towards Vector, but it was what he did that shocked everyone.

Vector grabbed a hold of the two's heads, one in each hand. He looked at the two.

"D'oh, not again!" Cubot complained.

The crocodile took off their propellers, and held them by the head like a ball as he walked over to the side of the area, which lead down to a bottomless pit. He dropped the two down as they screamed for their life. Vector wiped his hands and returned to his friends.

"And that's that," said the crocodile.

"Looks like we took care of the garbage!" added Charmy.

Tails noticed a shiny object on the ground. He bent over and picked it up, finding it to be another key.

"Ooh! Looks like I know what'll be used in this temple!" The two tailed fox said.

"We're done here, I presume?" Amy asked.

"Well, after Vector committed robot murder, I think we are, Amy. I think we are," replied Sonic.

"Then let's head out. Chaos knows what kind of authorities are probably on the lookout for us," Knuckles added. Nodding in agreement, the group exited the room, and entered the new one just ahead.

* * *

In this new room, there was a wooden gondola waiting in front of the group. Amy was confused.

"What is this doing in a temple about wind?" she asked.

"Let's find out then!" replied Tails. The group got into the gondola and shut the door after everyone was inside. They waited around for something to happen, but nothing came up.

"So… are we just gonna be sitting ducks or?" Sonic asked.

Just then, Vector took note of a control panel by the left side. The crocodile walked over to it and began to look around at the panel. He noticed a small sheet of paper and picked it up, reading the contents on it.

 **"MAIN GONDOLA CONTROLS**

Push the throttle up to go to the right

Push the throttle down to go to the left"

"That's it? That's not much," Charmy said.

"H-Huh?! Charmy, how in the heck did ya even get behind me like that!" Vector yelled back in response.

"I have top secret ninja powers! Espio taught me!"

Vector's heart became full of melancholy, but he didn't want Charmy to see him sad. So he gave a smile.

"Man, I sure bet he did!" Vector said, trying to play along. "What else did he teach ya?"

"He taught me-"

Charmy went on and on. Vector wasn't sure how long the bee could go naming all the things he apparently learned from Espio. After all, who would believe what he said?

All of a sudden, after Vector pushed a big red button, the gondola began to move upwards, as if it were being pulled up. The group waited for something to happen, but nothing out of the blue happened.

"Hey… this is kinda calm, not gonna lie!" Vector said. "Yeah, let's just sit back and relax…"

The large green reptile sat down on the floor and placed his hands behind his head. However, seconds after this happened, the gondola moved violently as quickly got up from the floor.

"What in the heck was that?!"

"Wind!" replied Amy.

"Wind?"

"Yeah! The wind currents here are super strong! They're probably pushing the gondola!" Tails explained.

"Well then what do I do?"

"Remember the instructions you read and probably already forgot! Right now, the wind Is hitting us from the right. What do you think we do then?"

Vector pushed the throttle upwards as the gondola struggled to not be thrown by the gusting winds. In just a few seconds however, Vector was able to escape the trap.

"Good job, Vector!" Tails complimented, clapping.

"Thanks lil' bud. Hopefully this'll end the-"

Vector couldn't end his sentence before the gondola moved to the left. Vector moved the throttle down as it started to move to the left. A few seconds later, the galestorm ended, and the gondola continued to track upward.

However, the gusts of wind that came kept moving around the gondola, causing Vector to move the throttle back and forth. Around ¾ of the way there, Knuckles looked out the window and froze.

"Uh, Vector?! You may wanna look at what's behind us…"

The crocodile looked behind him to see that the wall was now uncovered to reveal a multitude of saws, ready to chop up the gondola as soon as it hit it. Vector freaked out and pushed harder on the throttle. However, the gust of wind became stronger, and as such, the gondola didn't move as far as before.

"Guys! Help!" Vector called out, distressed. The other five ran to Vector and pushed upwards on the gondola, hoping that their strength would do something. However, almost a minute later, the defining sound of metal and wires were present as the throttle came completely unhinged. Vector held the throttle in his hand, a face of pure horror visible.

"Guys… this just happened, right? Tell me I'm not dreamin'," he said.

"You're not dreaming, Vec," replied Sonic. Vector's face of pure terror grew wider.

Just then, the sound of a saw hitting wood was heard as the group turned around. They saw that the saws were cutting through the wooden gondola, making their mark closer to the group. Everyone huddled together, trying not to get close to the sharp blades.

"How are we gonna get out of here?!" Charmy yelled. He was beginning to cry due to how scared he was.

"We'll jump from this window!" Vector said. "Then, Tails and Charmy will glide us downwards while we try to find a new way to get back on top!"

The two flight type mobians nodded as the blades got closer and closer. Sawdust filled the air as the spinning blades only got closer and closer. Vector felt his life flashing before his eyes.

 _"To think… I never saved Espio… but instead, get turned into chopped croc for a dinner…"_ he thought. Vector closed his eyes and prayed that a miracle would happen.

It seems that luck was on his side. All of a sudden, the gondola stopped and so did the sawblades, which was less than two feet from where the group was standing. Vector looked out to see that they had reached the top of the room.

"Whoo! Hallelujah! I'm still alive and rockin', baby!" Vector put up his fists in the air.

"Oh my god… I thought I was a goner!" Amy said, holding her chest.

"After that nightmare inducing experience, I just wanna move on," Tails said. "Can we go into the next room before something worse happens?"

"Alrighty alrighty, gotcha," replied the crocodile. He climbed out from the only window left standing, jumping from the very narrow edge of the gondola to the other side. He helped out his friends as well.

"Everyone's here, so let's move on!"

* * *

Upon entering the new room, the group could see that there were strong waves of wind rising from the bottom of the floor. There was multiple everywhere, so it seemed easy to go across.

However, what stopped the group from advancing before they could try to defy the odds, was the sign that was posted to the side.

 _"Warning! Once coming into contact with the wind, the fan will no longer work,"_ It read.

"Alrighty… another thing to think 'bout…" Vector said, scratching the bottom of his lip.

"Idea: How about we simply fly into it. If something happens, we can just try again. Not like there are any penalties… Okay, let's all do our stuff!"

Charmy and Tails held onto their friends/teammates as they began to fly over the fans. They could feel as each one they passed by powered down as soon as they came into contact with it.

"Come on… almost there, Tails!" Sonic yelled out. The two flight type mobians began to clench their teeth as their faces scrunched up. They could feel their wings (tails in Tails' case) becoming weaker and weaker.

"Awh naw, dontcha dare die out on me, Charmy!" Vector exclaimed.

"I… I can still do it… I'm almost there!" The bee said in response. He began to pant.

"Charmy!"

Finally, after what seemed like the longest minute ever, the group finally reached the other side. The two tailed fox and the bee fell to the ground, tired.

"Boy, ya guys did such a good job. Here, yeh guys deserve it."

The crocodile reached into Charmy's knapsack and pulled out two water bottles, handing it to the two kids. They drank their water as if it were the last drink in the world as Vector handed them a pack of gummies as a little bonus.

"Fer a job well done," He had said.

"Thanks, Vector!" Charmy replied.

"Yeah, thanks. It means a lot," Tails added. The two ate away at their snack, finishing it just moments later.

"Yeh done? Then let's head out."

* * *

Entering another narrow hallway, the group made their way through it as yet another pair of Eggman's robots sat, waiting for them to arrive.

"These things just don't give up, do they?!" Knuckles said. He rushed up towards one of them and punched it through the chest. It sparked as the red echidna pulled his fist out. All the robots began to aim guns at Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, waiting for the perfect moment to fire.

"Guys… on the count of three, we run. Got it?" said Vector.

"Wait, run?" asked Sonic.

"One…"

"Vector, I don't think-"

"Two…"

"There has to be-"

"THREE!"

Vector grabbed Charmy and covered his face as he bolted for the exit. All the robots began to start firing their guns as everyone else scattered to reach the crocodile.

"VECTOR! WAIT FOR US!" Tails yelled out. Vector ran out of the room as the group followed after him, Amy shutting the door behind them. She could hear banging and bullets being fired at the door.

"Guys, we have to hurry! They're going to be coming any minute!" Amy yelled.

"I… *huff huff* wouldn't have to worry 'bout them, they probably can't-"

The door began to crack and chip. Soon enough, a large chunk was removed off.

"Guys… RUN!"

Sonic used his speed to run ahead, leaving the other five in the dust.

"Oh, that's fair!" called out Charmy. The bee's wings flapped back and forth as the group ran from the multitude of robots now beginning to chase after them.

"Sonic, is there any exits?" Vector yelled.

"There are! It's just locked!" replied the blue hedgehog.

"Locked…" said Tails to himself. He pulled out the key he collected in the room with Orbot and Cubot and held it up.

"This should be it!" The two tailed fox said. "Sonic, where are you now?"

"I'm right here!"

The group managed to find Sonic in front of a large locked door. Tails flew up to the keyhole and placed the key in.

"Hurry up, Tails, hurry, hurry!" Vector said through gritted teeth. He turned around to see the robots catching up with them.

The keyhole clicked as the chains holding up the door fell.

"Alright, it's open!" Tails said.

"No time fer celebratin'!" Vector replied, picking up Tails. "Let's go go go!"

Vector (holding Tails), Charmy, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy entered inside the new room as they could hear the banging of the robots. The crocodile plopped Tails down on the floor and then took a deep sigh of relief, then fell to the floor to catch his breath.

"Whew, that was nerve-wrackin'!"

"Agreed, let's never do something like that again…" Amy said, holding her hand to her breast and sighing.

Just then, a sound behind the group startled them. They got up and turned around to see the origin of the noise.

In front of them was a tall and large robot with electronic fans for hands. The body of the robot shined in the light, displaying its neat and sleek green color. The eyes of the robot became red as it stood, crashing its two fans together.

"Oh no… Vector, what is that?!"

Vector got out the map and checked to see what this robot was. Its image and description burned onto the parchment as usual.

 **"Robot of Regret**

 ** _KAZE-STRIKER"_**

"Robot of regret?"

"There's no time to overanalyze the names of these things, Vector!" Tails said. "Right now we need to focus on beating them and getting that sixth emerald!"

"Sorry, my b. Dun worry, I got yer backs!"

The group got into a stance as Kaze-Striker placed his two fans side by side. The fans began to spin quickly as everyone, even almost Vector, were pushed and fell due to how strong the force was.

"Damn it… what to do now? Gettin' past all that armor is gonna be the tricky part!"

"Vector, did you forget who you were?" Knuckles asked.

"I know we're strong, Knux! But, this thing looks like not even us combined can destroy it."

"Then we must find some other way."

The Chaotix leader looked over at Sonic, before tossing him over his shoulder.

"V-Vector! Hey, what g-gives!" Sonic argued, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Don't question it, Sonic! I've got an idea; just hang on fer me, will ya?" Vector replied. He hid behind a rock as the two mobians felt the wind blowing. Soon, the sound of the fans dying were heard.

Vector moved out of his hiding place. "Sonic, do yer spin dash!"

"In your hands?" The blue hedgehog replied.

"YES, IN MAH HANDS!"

Sonic began to spin as Vector threw the blue hedgehog at Kaze-Striker. The blue blur made contact with the large robot, causing it to stumble backwards. A few loose bolts came out from it as the group made their way to attack. Amy grabbed her hammer and began to strike at the right arm. Kaze-Striker tried to grab the group with its left arm, but was attacked by Charmy thunder shooting Vector.

"Vector! Let's take this thing off!" Knuckles yelled. They could see that Kaze-Striker was now shifting around, trying to get back up.

"Hurry up! Come on!"

"On it!" yelled back Vector. The two power type mobians grabbed the upper arm and began to pull on it. Kaze-Striker slammed its left arm and feet on the ground as if it were a child having a temper tantrum as the group could hear the sounds of cords and metal being snapped and broken.

Soon enough, with gritted teeth and veins popping on their arms, Vector and Knuckles pulled the right arm of Kaze-Striker clean off. They threw it to the ground as Kaze-Striker then got up, activating the fan on its left arm immediately. Everyone was flown back as the speed of the fans increased. Kaze-Striker spun in place as a tornado formed, coming in towards the group.

"Run!" Amy yelled. The group began to run off, however, Charmy was struggling to keep up.

"Help me!" The bee yelled. He was flown back and hit a rock. Charmy hung on for dear life as his feet began to wobble in the air.

"DUN WORRY, CHARMY! I GOTCHA!" Vector yelled, quickly going back to rescue his teammate. He grabbed the bee and held him tightly as the ravaging twister got stronger. The crocodile ran as fast as he could and soon enough, returned to his friends.

After setting Charmy down, Vector saw Kaze-Striker fall down to the ground once again. Angry for almost hurting Charmy, the large green reptile made his way to the large robot. He began to punch at the left arm, indents left on the fan as everyone else made their way towards the robot. Charmy stung the robot's chest as a small amount of electricity sparked out. Tails used his tails attack to partially chop the arm of Kaze-Striker.

"Here you go, Vector and Knuckles!" He said. "This should help you take the arm off easier!"

"Ready to do this again?" The red echidna asked.

"Ya dun even need to ask me twice!"

Vector and Knuckles grabbed the arm and began to pull. However, just as they were, serval indents formed on the door the group was entering. Charmy took note of this.

"Guys! The robots from earlier are trying to break down the door!" he exclaimed.

"Dang it! And Vector and Knuckles are already busy!" Sonic replied.

"We could try as hard as we could, Sonic!" Tails said, Amy and Charmy nodding in agreement.

The blue hedgehog looked around for a bit before nodding as well. The four got to the door and pushed on it, making sure that the robots couldn't enter inside.

Back at the two power type mobians, Vector heard the snap of a wire as the arm became easier to pull on. Soon enough, they pulled the left arm clean off.

As soon as they threw it to the ground, the door flew open as multitude of robots entered the room, pointing their weapons or held out their hands at Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy.

"Argh! We dun need this right now!"

Kaze-Striker getting up took their attention away from the other robots when it retreated its right leg, then it's left. The sound of another fan was audible as the large robot floated in the air.

"A propeller?" Tails asked, seeing the propeller emerge from Kaze-Striker's torso. It moved around the arena, throwing down bombs. The group got out of the way from one.

"Awh, that's fair!" Vector said. He was caught off guard by the robots beginning to fire away at the Chaotix and their friends, Knuckles pulling him behind the rock everyone else was hiding in.

"Ya pulled me tight, Knux!" Vector complained.

"Shut up about your pain, Vector. We need to make a plan about what to do next," Knuckles replied.

"Well, whaddya suggest we do? We got two things to take care of, those normal robots, and Kaze-Striker itself. The latter seems the most dangerous, with him throwin' down bombs and bein' in the air."

"Hm… okay, I got an idea!" Sonic said. "Amy, when Kaze-Striker throws his bombs, you should pick one up quickly and use your hammer to deflect them. Charmy, Tails, you two should throw up Vector and Knuckles when it gets hurt by said bombs. Meanwhile, I'll be taking care of the other robots. Any formal complaints?"

"Yeah," Charmy said. "Look behind you."

Sonic turned around to see one of the robots staring at him in the face. The blue hedgehog kicked the robot in the air as it flew back.

"Go on, guys! Go! Go!"

The other five emerged from the rock, looking up at Kaze-Striker. Along with throwing down a bomb, it shot a missile from its mouth, coming directly towards them.

"Sonic, there's a missile too!" Amy yelled.

"Deflect that too!" he replied.

The pink hedgehog nodded as she kicked the almost-exploding bomb away from her. She grasped her Piko Piko Hammer, and as soon as the missile nearly came towards the group, Amy swung her hammer, causing it to deflect. The missile came towards Kaze-Striker, who had no time to react. The missile made a direct hit, causing the robot to stall in its flight.

"Tails, Charmy, now's your chance to throw up Vector and Knuckles!" Amy said. The two flight type mobians nodded as they thunder shot the crocodile and echidna at the robot. They held out their fists and made contact, causing an indent in the metal as they fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Sonic spin dashed and homing attacked the robots with ease.

"Hey, this is pretty easy!" He said. Suddenly, he was grabbed and thrown by a robot.

"Argh! That hurt… if only I had rings on me right about now…" The blue blur muttered. He quickly got back up and began to attack once again.

The next few minutes consisted of the same exact task. After Vector and Knuckles made their third hit on Kaze-Striker, black smoke emerged from the robot as sparks of electricity was everywhere on the robot. Sonic ran up to the group.

"That's all the other robots taken care of!" he said. "Now, let's get this last hit!"

Amy nodded as Kaze-Striker sent out all the missiles it could. Getting into a stance, Amy swung her hammer as hard as she could, sending most of them flying back. The group got out of the way of the ones coming in their way. Each missile hit Kaze-Striker with direct force, causing the robot to become even more damaged

After the last missile hit, Kaze-Striker looked incredibly beat up. Tails and Charmy thunder shot Vector and Knuckles one last time, punching as hard as they could. They went back to the ground as an explosion happened in Kaze-Striker's chest. The robot fell to the ground, and with one hit to the earth, exploded. Parts of the robot flew everywhere as all that was left was a pile of metal on fire.

"Whoo-hoo! That was awesome!" Charmy cheered.

"I'll say, kick fuc-"

Vector stopped himself when he saw Tails and Charmy.

"Kick freakin' butt. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say…"

The sound of the door opening caused the group to turn around. They sighed with relief as the saw the altar room for the sixth emerald.

Entering inside, the white flames lit up the room as the pedestal got closer and closer. Finally, the group reached it, and saw the sixth Chaos Emerald; a pure white one.

Just as Vector began to reach for it, a voice startled him and everyone else.

"So… it's YOU who's collecting the Chaos Emeralds…"

"That voice…" Sonic said to himself.

Vector grabbed the Chaos Emerald quickly as everyone turned around to see who was standing in front of them.

It was Team Dark.

"Huh? Team Dark? What are you doing here?!" Tails asked.

"I could say the same about you lot. What are all of you doing here?" Rouge replied.

"Eh heh heh, nothin'!" Vector said, quickly hiding the Chaos Emerald.

"Judging from that Chaos Emerald in your hand, I doubt "it's nothing", Shadow replied. "You see, I've been out of a Chaos Emerald for quite some time. No Chaos Control has made things, shall we say, more difficult. As you imagine, it's taken me a while to try and track down that Emerald. So imagine my surprise when we all find out via a special Emerald radar Omega installed that there's someone with not one, but SIX Chaos Emeralds. That someone? We're talking about YOU, croc."

 _"Scanning enemy… enemies identified as Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy Bee. Enemies considered dangerous, must be eliminated! "_ Omega said, aiming his arm cannon.

"Omega, not now," Rouge said. She looked at Vector. "So, _Vector,_ " The white bat spat out. "You better give that Emerald up at least. I don't know why someone like you would need it anyway, cheap detective."

Vector and Charmy became offended. This caused the crocodile to increase his grip on the Chaos Emerald.

"What are you even going to do? Sell it for food money? I would have guessed."

"Hey, so what if we aren't the richest in the world! We're still a happy lil' team!" Vector replied, anger in his voice.

"Sonic, do something!" Amy pleaded to the blue hedgehog. He sighed in response.

"I wish I could do something, but there's no getting out from this. I'm sorry…"

Amy looked down at the floor as Tails bit his lips, nervous that Team Dark wouldn't do anything rash. Meanwhile, Knuckles tapped his foot on the ground, hoping that the other team would go away.

"Hey, where is Espio anyway?" Rouge asked. "So I guess he really HAS left your team like I thought he would."

Vector reached his boiling point, but continued to hide his anger. Charmy looked up at him and placed his hand over his mouth.

"Uh-oh... he's gonna pop…" The bee said.

"So, you're not giving up the Emerald, are you, Vector? I'm not taking no for answer, so you better be ready for what we're going to do, because we aren't soft like everyone else you've met!" Shadow yelled.

 _"Entering combat mode. Enemies must be eradicated!"_ Omega exclaimed.

"Argh… I didn't wanna have to fight, but looks like we gotta!" Vector said. Immediately, Shadow rushed towards the crocodile. However, the group was able to get out of the way just in time.

Omega shot bullets out from his cannon at a fast rate, the clinking of bullets hitting the ground audible. Charmy dodged each bullet with ease.

"Hey Vector, look! It's like I'm that one guy who can dodge bullets in slow motion from that movie!" He giggled. Vector's eyes widened as he tackled Charmy to the ground.

"Charmy, that's dangerous!" he yelled.

"Sorry…"

Meanwhile, Shadow began to punch away at Sonic, who dodged back and shot back a few of his own punches.

"You never learn to give up, do you, faker?" The blue blur asked.

"Still calling me by that pathetic nickname?" The black hedgehog replied.

"Ooh, someone's feisty today."

Shadow's glare became nasty as he began to throw more punches, this time at a faster rate.

"Whoa now, I didn't mean to offend!"

Near the two hedgehogs, Rouge was battling everyone else. Knuckles threw a punch at the white bat, but dodged, and grabbed his arm, throwing him to the ground.

"You always were a cheap shot, Knuckles," The thief said, putting her heel on the red echidna's hand. Knuckles cried out.

"Get off of me, you prude!"

"Ah ah ah, that isn't a nice word. And naughty boys don't deserve to say words like that."

From behind her however, Amy held up her hammer, ready to strike at any moment. However, Rouge turned around in time, kicking her with her right foot as the pink hedgehog fell to the ground, dropping her Piko Piko Hammer.

"You really think you can sneak up on me that easily?"

She looked above to see Tails hovering above her.

"Don't try me, fox boy."

Back to where the two Chaotix members were, they hid behind the pillar where the Chaos Emerald was (although Vector was visibly seen, due to how large his back was). Charmy looked up at his guardian.

"How are we gonna beat Team Dark?" He asked.

"Well, it looks like that everyone's got it taken care of it," Vector replied. He peeked his head from out the pillar to see Amy down on the floor, Knuckles knocked out, and Tails slowly stepping back over where Rouge was. Sonic in a fist fight with Shadow, while Omega stared directly at them.

"Yup, taken care of. Right now, let's just focus on Omega. Yeh should make a distraction so I can land a hit on him."

"Okay! What do I do then?"

"Buzz around him like ya would with me 'n Espio whenever ya want something."

Charmy nodded happily as he buzzed over to the large red robot.

"Hey Omega! Aren't we gonna play today? Huh? Huh? Aren't we?" he asked in a quick succession.

 _"I have no time for play, aggravating bee child. Destruction is main priority!"_ The large red robot replied.

"Oh come on, you know you wanna play!"

With Omega distracted, Vector got out from his hiding place. He ran over to Omega and retracted his fist. When he finally reached Omega, to the point where the robot saw him, Vector threw his punch. Omega was flung back to the wall, hitting it with a force.

As the smoke cleared from where Omega hit the wall, a missile was shot out. Charmy used his stinger to deflect it, getting a clean shot. The missile came rushing back to Omega, which exploded upon impact. Omega was on the ground, sparks flying from his body.

 _"Main objective… failure… damage level exceeding 75%..."_ Omega said. _"Activating shut down status to prevent any more damage."_

Omega's eyes stopped glowing red as he fell limp. The two Chaotix members looked at each other and high fived.

"Nice job!" Charmy complimented. "Now all we have left is Rouge and Shadow to deal with!"

"Gotcha!"

The two turned around to see Rouge trying to do her drill dive attack on Tails, who kept dodging out of the way. Meanwhile, Sonic and Shadow were still at each other, doing their homing attacks.

"Let's take on Rouge first, she'll be the easiest!" Charmy said. "I'll get her attention. You'll take her on!"

"Oka- Wait, what?"

It was too late; Charmy positioned his stinger towards the white bat and shot it towards her. It hit Rouge's back, causing her to yelp out and glide in midair.

"Who shot that at me?!" She questioned. Charmy buzzed away.

"Well, she's all yours, Vector!"

Rouge growled when she saw the crocodile. "You little deviant! You'll pay for that!"

The white bat came rushing towards the crocodile, who narrowly got out of the way. Rouge did her screw kick attack, causing Vector to fly back.

"Oof!" He said when hit. The large green reptile landed on the ground, but quickly got back up. "Oh, it's a fight you want huh? Come 'n get me, then!"

Rouge began to throw punches and kicks as Vector managed to grab her by the legs. He spun in place and threw her against the wall. She fell back to the ground, but managed to get back up, ready for me.

"Ya never give up, do ya?" Vector asked.

"I could say the same about you," Rouge replied. The two circled each other, waiting for the right moment to attack. Rouge saw the perfect opportunity and zoomed up, doing her hip drop move. She managed to pin the crocodile down.

"Not so tough anymore aren't you?" She mocked. "Looks like without your little friend, you're no good."

Vector grit his teeth, but then smiled.

"Heh… well, that friend sure taught me some tricks. Because…"

He grabbed Rouge by the waist.

"He said ya always gotta be ready for an attack!"

Vector curled Rouge up into a ball and kicked her to the wall yet again. The master thief fell down to the floor, hitting the ground hard. She moaned as she lacked the strength to get back up. The head honcho of the Chaotix smirked.

"Wow, Vector! That was wicked cool!" Charmy praised, buzzing back to his guardian.

 _"As if yeh helped…"_ Vector thought. However, he hid his slight anger with a smile.

"Now all we got left is the ultimate life form himself; Shadow."

Sonic and Shadow were still fighting, both of them panting heavily.

"Giving up now, hedgehog?" Shadow taunted.

"Giving up is the last thing I'd ever do!" Sonic replied.

"Yeah, you tell them, Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. Shadow looked up at him and brought out one of his signature guns. Everyone's eyes widened as the black hedgehog began to shoot.

"Hey, that's not fair! I thought you grew out of those!" Charmy said.

The bee was met with bullets coming his way. Vector sighed as Shadow and Sonic returned to the fight.

 _"Screw this, let's cut this part short,"_ Vector thought. He walked over to Shadow, tapped him on the shoulder, and then as soon as he turned around, punched him straight in the face. Shadow fell back to the ground as Vector shot off an extra fireball for good measure. The remaining four got Amy and Knuckles back on their feet, who had got over from their injuries.

"I don't get it… why do you need the Emerald?" questioned Shadow.

"I dunno, are ya in the mood fer a story?" asked Vector.

"Does it look like me and my team are?!" Shadow saw Rouge, now coming back to consciousness, and Omega, who turned on by himself.

"Well its yer lucky day! Cause Imma tell it to ya anyway! Okay, so…"

* * *

After telling the whole story, Team Dark finally understood why the Chaos Emeralds were important.

"I get it… so this explains why Espio wasn't present," Rouge said. In the middle of Rouge and Shadow talking, Omega piped up.

 _"You may leave."_

"Huh? Omega, are you… letting them go?!" Shadow asked.

"Omega, what has gotten into you?" added Rouge.

 _"Nothing, however, it appears to be a crucial situation for these fleshling's to save their fleshling friend. We should let them be."_

"Like hell we are!" replied Shadow. He quickly got up from the floor and walked to where the group was. "Listen well; just because you have six emeralds doesn't mean that you've got them all. There's still seven."

"And we plan to get that last one. Now, if ya could, leave us be," replied Vector. The group walked away from the room, hoping that the veil of light would surround them to take them out from the temple. However, before they could exist, Rouge piped up.

"Wait!"

Everyone turned around to see Rouge in front of them.

"How about a temporary truce?"

"A what?" Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy said in unison.

"That's right. Vector. Since we both need Chaos Emeralds for our own reasons, who about we do this. We help you with your little shindig and rescue Espio. HOWEVER, once this is all over, you better give Shadow one of the emeralds back.

Shadow looked at his friend as if she were crazy. The black hedgehog walked over to her quickly, pulling on her shoulder.

"Rouge, what kind of idea is that?! I'm not going to be teaming up with my rival and all his friends!" he yelled. Rouge put her finger on Shadow's lips.

"You want to ruin your chances of getting a Chaos Emerald? Face it, it's the only way," Rouge replied. Shadow looked at the ground and muttered a curse under his breath.

"Okay, FINE… because this is probably the only way I can reunite with my Emerald… me and the rest of my team will help you save Espio," Shadow said, already regretting what he said.

"Woo hoo! We got three new people to join us! We're really unstoppable now!" Charmy exclaimed. Shadow rolled his eyes in response.

 _"Allies are now friendly to me. I will protect you with all that I can,"_ Omega said.

"That's good, Omega. Now, how do you suppose we'll be leaving here?" Rouge asked.

"Do a little something we call, wait," Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy said in unison.

Just in time, the veil of light shined on the group of nine. They all levitated in midair as the light flashed. Sure enough, they were gone.

* * *

Now outside the temple, Vector looked to the side and almost jumped in shock.

"Guys… I dun really like the look of that…" he said.

Eggman's ship was now closer to the main land. The light from the sunset shined on the crocodile as he pulled out the map. The location of the last temple burned onto the parchment.

"What's that? Some kind of map?" Rouge asked.

"Yup, and its tellin' me the location of the last temple. C'mon guys, we got one last emerald to get!"

Vector began to run off as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Charmy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega followed behind the crocodile. Vector's eyes became full of determination.

 _"I AM gonna save Espio, no matter what,"_ He thought to himself.

The journey of collecting the Chaos Emeralds has been difficult. With many near death experiences, and horrible thoughts and nightmares, Vector wondered how he made it this far.

But, as he turns around to look at his friends, the large green reptile remembered he had them.

 _"I'm real grateful fer all o' yeh…"_

With his friends by his side, Vector was adamant in saving his crush.

Wait…

No, friend.

 _"Oh, Chaos… this again…"_

Thus began another session of denial.

However, something was different about this… Vector thought closer and closer about the situation.

And then, that's when he slowly began to realize.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ON EGGMAN'S SHIP**

Espio watched the rolling clouds from outside a window. The chameleon had used the secret passageway to enter a part of the ship that wasn't his cell. Espio sighed and slumped.

In his mind, he kept thinking about Vector. So much so that he swore he saw the crocodile's face in the sky. The ninja shook his head.

"You continue to have these thoughts, Espio…"

He could feel his heart race as he thought about his boss, his best friend, his-

Espio shook his head.

 _"THIS is what I see Vector as…"_ he thought.

Espio could swear he heard his heart beat too. Was he getting this flustered over Vector? Despite being separated?

When he thought about it, Espio was reminded about the Time Eater incident. It turns out no one could leave the area they were in, meaning Espio couldn't go out and look for his friends. However, not seeing Vector was what pained him the most. He felt melancholy without him around, and safe and with the warm and fuzzies when he was around.

With all of this in mind, that could only mean that there was only conclusion the chameleon could think of. One conclusion that Espio has now fully accepted:

 _He was in love with Vector._


	8. 7: The Final Emerald and the Backstabber

**(AN: ...**

 **MY**

 **GOD**

 **TWO WEEKS**

 **TWO**

 **WEEKS**

 **WORKING ON THIS**

 **I don't think my keyboard will be the same...**

 **Yup, here we are, the longest chapter of this fic. You know, its weird, the second to last chapter is always the longest with my fics. Transfer is the same way too...**

 **Oh well, despite that, you better get something to eat and drink, because this is going to be a LONGGGG chapter. But don't worry, there is plenty of action, suspence, and the thing I bet everyone has been waiting for... Vecpio ovo**

 **So anyway, without further ado, enjoy more than 10k words of this chapter!**

 **And also, thanks everybody for 500 views on the fic so far!)**

* * *

The markings inscribed on the temple glowed a bright yellow as Vector, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega walked up to the temple (Charmy buzzing above the crocodile). Vector looked up to marvel at the sight.

"This is it… our last forte..." he said. "I'm not sure if we're going to leave this temple alive, but if we do, I hope you all know it's been great havin' yeh all as a partner."

"Even if we just joined you?" questioned Rouge.

"Even if ya just joined."

"To think, the last Chaos Emerald's in there. After that, we have all seven," Sonic said.

"And then we can save Espio!" Charmy added.

"And we can save Espio," Vector nodded. "Are all of yeh guys ready?"

"I'm more than ready! I'm readier then I've ever been before!"

"Yeah, I'm ready! I'm not backing out of this one!" Sonic added.

"I'm ready too!" Tails said.

"So am I!" Knuckles said.

"Don't forget about me! I'm ready!" Amy added.

"Team Dark, are you ready?" Shadow asked, crossing his fingers.

"If I wasn't ready, would I be here?" Rouge replied.

 _"Beginning preparations to enter temple. Will protect Shadow and Rouge,"_ Omega said.

"Then let's head in!"

The group entered inside the temple, ready for the final challenge.

* * *

Upon entering, Sonic, Amy, and Shadow's quills, along with Tails' fur, stood up. Upon feeling this, Tails knew what the temple was based around.

"Electricity," he said.

"Hm?" Vector asked.

"You heard me; electricity."

"Oh… I feel it too!" Amy responded.

"So then we gotta be extra careful here then?" Vector asked.

"Yes, otherwise one poorly timed action could result in death," Shadow replied. "Be on the lookout, Omega. Make sure you watch your step as we navigate the temple."

 _"Affirmative, I will follow your order, Shadow,"_ Omega responded.

After exiting the main hallway, the group entered inside the new room to see bolts of electricity shooting through the wall. Charmy looked at it with amazement.

"Whoa…"

Vector grabbed Charmy and pulled him away, the bee yelping slightly in response.

As they went through the electric-filled corridor, they found what appeared to be the main central hall of the temple. In the middle, there was a metal platform that was connected through the three rooms it branched off to. The walls of the room were a pattern of yellow and brown. Crowding around the area however, were several robots.

"More robots!" Charmy called out. Immediately, Omega held out his arm cannon.

 _"Annihilation!"_ he said. The red and black robot began to shoot at one of the robots. The sound of bullets hitting the metallic body of the robot echoed throughout the room as all the other robots now directed their attention towards the group. They held out their hands as sparks of electricity jolted out from it.

 _"I have got it from here. Destroy the remaining robots,"_ Omega said. Shadow and Rouge nodded as they began to attack the robot to the far left. Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy nodded as they went after the remaining few ones.

Sonic did a kick in the air, dropping one to the ground as Amy ran over to it and smashed it with her hammer. The red echidna smashed both his fists through the chests of two robots and swung them to the wall. Meanwhile, Vector and Charmy were busy with a more advanced robot.

"Dang, it didn't even react to me bugging it!" Charmy complained.

"And when ya know that happens, yeh know something isn't right," Vector replied.

"Vector, can't you just hit that robot?"

"I mean… I COULD, but…"

"Nothing about your butt! I'll make you!"

"Wait wait wait! Charmy!-"

It was too late. The bee attached himself to Vector as he thunder shot him at the robot. Upon impact, the robot blew up.

"See? That wasn't hard! You were just being lazy!"

Charmy crossed his arms, looking discontent.

"Look, I'm sorry, Charmy. Real sorry," Vector said as he got up. Still, the young Chaotix member continued to cross his arms.

"Awh jeeze, yer doin' that thing Espio does, arentcha?" He asked. "Been learnin' from him I presume?"

"Perhaps," Charmy replied.

"Yeh little scamp. One of these days, somethin' sure is gonna happen to ya if ya act like Espio in public."

"And I'll be ready to… defeat them with my ninja powers! Hi-yaaaa!" Charmy got into a pose that mimicked Espio's fighting pose. Vector found it amusing and began to laugh.

"Okay okay, that's a good one, I gotta give ya that. A real good one, Charmy."

Even with Espio still on his mind, this didn't mean that he had to lose his sense of humor and joke around. The crocodile calmed down from his laughing fit as he saw everyone looking at him and Charmy.

"What? What is it? Never seen a guy interact with his lil' teammate?" Vector asked.

"We've been done killing all these robots, look," Knuckles said. "We did all of that while you and Charmy were goofing off."

"Hey, we weren't goofin' off! We beat one of those stinkin' robots!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes, "Alright, whatever you two. C'mon, Vector, since you mentioned your 'detective analysis', it's only appropriate that you decide on which way we go."

"I mean, I dunno If it'll work this time around…"

"VECTOR…"

"Alright alright, fine…"

Vector grumbled as he got up. He walked over to the middle to look at the three rooms surrounding him. The crocodile looked around as he pointed to the left.

"Thataway!" he said.

"How can we trust you into believing that's the right way, croc?" Rouge asked.

"Because all the places are the right way!"

"Huh?" asked Tails.

"Ya see, this thing I'm standing on, I realized it's an elevator. What's also interestin' is that the thing has no power, but is connected to the three rooms. Obviously, this means that there are wires and connections hooked to this thing in the other rooms, and we need to find them to power this baby up!"

"Smart thinking, croc," said Rouge. "But, there's still the matter of three rooms. They're not going to be the same each time. Are you sure the left room is where we want to go?"

"Certain! Now c'mon!"

Vector led the group to the next room, everyone else following behind him.

* * *

Upon entering the new room, the crocodile almost jumped from shock at the sight in front of him. Large spinning cogs were suspended in midair, rotating clockwise.

"Are we really gonna have to jump through all of this? I mean, it really does seem, y'know, UNSAFE," Vector complained.

"You're the one who wanted to start with this room first, Vector," replied Knuckles. The large green reptile grumbled in response.

Sonic jumped onto one of the spinning cogs, and despite almost missing his jump, managed to stand atop it.

"See? It's not so bad!" Sonic said. "Let's go!"

Charmy, Tails, and Rouge began to glide in the air and flew over the cogs. Meanwhile, Knuckles, Shadow, Omega, Amy, and finally Vector, began to jump onto the cogs. There were a multitude of cogs, some spinning faster than the others, or some bigger or smaller than others. However, the group was able to make it across safely.

That was, until Vector missed his jump, and almost fell down the dark abyss below, however, he was able to grab onto the ledge of the cog. Vector was left dangling, spinning around because of the cog.

"So uh, ARENTCHA ALL GONNA HELP ME?!" Vector yelled.

The group looked up at the crocodile. Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy had scared expressions on his face, while Team Dark held blank emotions.

"I dunno, it's amusing to see you up there," Shadow replied. He saw that Vector had flipped him off, but kept it hidden so Charmy wouldn't see.

The other five looked at Team Dark with disapproving faces. Rouge rolled her eyes.

"Oh fine, I'll get him."

Rouge glided in the air and flapped her wings as she flew over to Vector, grabbing him by the chest. She brought him back to where the group was.

"Whew… thanks, Rouge," Vector said, holding his large hand up to his chest.

"You are very much welcome," The white bat replied, walking past him.

The group walked down a large hallway, seeing multiple cogs of all sizes on the floor. They looked to the left to see a large panel with a few cogs already on it.

"Ugh, I never liked doing stuff like this…" Amy said, realizing what they had to do.

"Hey, I'll help you through it!" Tails said.

Vector grabbed one of the cogs and placed it onto the panel. He continued to grab more as the other members of the group grabbed cogs.

After less than a minute, the group finally finished placing all of the cogs onto the panel, However, they didn't move.

 _"Puzzle is incorrect. Now correcting,"_ Omega said. His eyes began to glow blue as a light shined from it and onto the panel. Holograms of the cogs showed up on top of the cogs that were already placed.

With their simple 'cheat', the group began to replace all the cogs. After it was done, they all began to spin as the sound of a gate opening was heard.

"Yeah! We did it!" Vector said.

"More like Omega did it," replied Rouge. The crocodile looked at her and stuck his tongue out.

"Geez, did you guys install something like that onto Omega? That's actually kinda smart," Sonic said.

"Trust me; I'm not a big fan of these types of puzzles. It's easy to have when you have a way to cheat."

* * *

When the group entered the new room, there was a multitude of robots all over the room.

"Chaos… how many of these are there?" Amy asked.

"That's Eggman for you, it's robot after robot with him," Shadow replied.

"Yeah… that does make sense… makes you wonder how he gets the funds for that kind of stuff…"

"There's no time to think about that, Amy! Right now, we gotta beat these guys!"

Sonic spin dashed up to the largest robot with a gun, causing it to fall back. All the other robots put their attention on the group. The ones that held guns began to fire away, while the ones with no weapons began to jolt out electricity from its hands.

Vector began to punch away at the multitude of robots while Charmy helped him by causing some of them to fall to the floor using his stinger. Omega was shooting away at all the robots surrounding him, while Shadow and Rouge attacked any remaining ones that survived the robot's bullets. Finally, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were attacking the largest robot.

Amy slammed her hammer down onto the foot of the robot. Knuckles punched the left leg of the robot as it was confused on whom to take out first. Sonic did his homing attack on the left leg, which came off as soon as the blue hedgehog made contact. Seeing this happen, Amy used this chance to slam her Piko Piko Hammer on the side of the right leg.

The robot fell down as Amy and Knuckles looked at each other. They nodded and ran over to the head of the robot. The pink hedgehog used her hammer to smash the robot's head.

"Heh heh, Amy look! They're trying to get up!" Tails said. The large robot was struggling to get up, slamming his leg on the floor.

"How is this thing still alive?" Sonic asked.

"Not anymore it is!" Knuckles replied. The red echidna grabbed the smashed head and began to tug on it. Just before the red echidna could pull off the head, the robot moved his hand and grabbed Knuckles.

"Oh no you don't!" Amy yelled. She hit the robot's arm, causing it to retract in response. Amy turned around to see the robot trying to grab her with its other arm. Fortunately, she was able to hit it just in time.

Knuckles was ultimately able to take off the head of the robot, allowing Amy to hit it with her hammer. She was able to neutralize the robot, and turn it into nothing more than scraps. The large robot exploded as in the middle, a lever popped up. Vector walked over to it and pulled it down

Unbeknownst to him, while nothing happened when he pulled the lever, jolts of electricity went into the wiring in the floor, which connected to the elevator in the main room that required the three lights to be shining to signify that it was ready. A bulb that was off turned green as soon as electricity connected with the elevator.

Back over with the group, they had traveled back from the room with the lever to the main atrium. Vector noticed the green light.

"Hey look! It looks like we managed to get some electricity runnin' on this thing!" The crocodile said.

"And here I was thinking that lever served no purpose," Sonic said.

"So if pulling those levers activates electricity flow to this elevator, then the next two rooms have to have levers too! Come on! Let's go pull them quickly!" Tails said.

* * *

After Charmy decided that the group head to the door upwards, the group entered inside the new room. As soon as they entered, Shadow pulled back an unsuspecting Vector from his chain.

"What are you thinking you idiot?!" he spat at Vector.

"Geez, take a chill pill, Shads. What's the issue?" replied the crocodile.

The ultimate life form pointed to the ground. It turns out; rays of electricity were going around the circular room.

"If you didn't almost get yourself killed, then you would have noticed that we need to jump over the electricity in order to pass through this room,"

"Patronizin' much?"

"That's what I do best," Shadow said this with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Charmy, you should be our on looker!" Amy said. "Just tell us when to jump, and we'll do it!"

"Okay!"

Everyone ran over to the circular area as one of the rays of electricity passed by. The bee's wings buzzed as he was turned around from everybody else. He watched one of the rays of electricity come by, mesmerizing him.

"Jump!"

The group jumped just like the young Chaotix member told them to do. They managed to avoid it just in time.

"Here comes another one!"

Just as it came close, Charmy said "Jump!" yet again.

This process continued another three times, until Vector, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega managed to make it to the other side.

"Yay! You guys did it thanks to me!" Charmy said, buzzing around.

 _"Good work, bee child. Would you like to join G.U.N.? They could use someone like you,"_ Omega said.

"Hmm… nah, I'm gonna stick with the Chaotix!"

Vector grabbed Charmy rather gently and gave him a noogie. "Heh, yeh betcha yer stayin' with the Chaotix lil' pal!"

"Hee hee hee! Stop it Vector!" Charmy tried to squirm out of Vector's grasp playfully, but couldn't. After a few seconds, the large green reptile finally let the bee go.

"Are you two finished?" Rouge asked.

"Well, I wasn't aware yeh were such a buzzkill, Rouge," Vector stuck his tongue out at her. "Alrighty, fine. Let's keep on goin'."

* * *

Entering the new room, the group saw that the entire room was pitch black, save for the lights from Omega's eyes.

"Is there no light in here?" Tails asked.

"Doesn't seem like it," replied Knuckles.

Charmy shivered as he bit his fingernails. Due to his age, he still had a fear of the dark.

"C-Can we find the lights soon? I'm scared…"

Just then, a binding light came from Omega. It turns out; he was using his eyes as a flashlight.

 _"Light substitution mode has been activated,"_ Omega said.

It was then that Sonic noticed another panel on the wall, this one however, much smaller and blue. There were many wires connected along both ends of the panel. Underneath it to the side was a pair of scissors.

"So, we have to cut the wires in order for light to come back to this room, huh?" Sonic asked.

"Wire-cutting? I'm skilled at that. Let me take care of this, Sonic," The two-tailed fox said. The blue blur handed him the pair of scissors as Tails walked up to the panel. He looked at the wires in order from left to right: red, green, blue, yellow, pink, brown, and orange.

"I can immediately deduct that three of these wires have use to them. That would mean…"

Tails cut the red wire, seeing a very very dim amount of light come to the room.

"Hey, that worked! Okay, so… that would mean the next one is…"

Tails then cut the yellow wire, seeing another small amount of light come back to the room. This went on another two times as Tails cut the brown, and then the orange wire. After the orange wire was cut, light finally came back to the room.

"Woo-hoo! You did it, bud!" Sonic said, giving Tails a high five.

"Heh, that was nothing. But thanks!" he replied.

"You're so good at this, Tails!" Amy complemented.

"Hey, that's how Tails is. He's that good," Knuckles replied. Tails blushed in response, looking bashful.

"You did good kid," said Shadow.

"What Shadow said," Rouge added.

 _"And what my teammates said,"_ finally added Omega.

"Gawd, I was nervous cause I thought we were gonna blow up or somethin'! Thanks anyway, Tails!" Vector said.

"I'm glad you got the lights back on!" Charmy added.

"You guys… this is too generous…" Tails felt really bashful now. "But now that I'm the great amazing person because I managed to cut wires without anything happening, I order all of you to head onto the next room!"

Vector now took a proper look at the room. It was quite small, with an elevator in the middle. Looking up at the ceiling, there was a circular hole cut right in the middle of it, most likely where the elevator would go up.

"Well, ya heard Tails," Vector said. He walked onto the small elevator as everyone else got on. However, everyone felt incredibly squished.

"Ow, who stepped on me?!" Rouge yelped.

"Sorry, Rouge…" replied Amy.

"Who's all up against me?" questioned Knuckles.

"I am, "replied Tails.

The elevator went up, hopefully signifying the end of complaints from the group.

* * *

When they entered the new room, there was a doorway that has electricity from top to bottom, left to right.

"Great, look at this… how are we going to get past this?" Amy asked. "Tails, Omega, isn't there anything you can do?"

"Unfortunately not… there isn't a panel anywhere or anything like that…" The two tailed fox said.

 _"Negative,"_ added Omega.

Amy sighed.

It was then that Charmy noticed the remote control for an R.C. Car. He gasped and grabbed it.

"Vector, look what I found!" he exclaimed, holding it out. "Can I have it?"

However, Vector looked cross. "Charmy…" he said, hands on his hips. "What did me 'n Espio tell ya about findin' unattended things?"

The bee sighed. "Don't take things you just find because it's probably somebody's… okay, Vector…"

Just before Charmy put the remote back, he saw that there was an R.C. car behind the transparent wall. Even if Vector wanted him to put it back, and since everyone else was trying to find a way to get past this room, the bee decided to have just one little try at using it.

Charmy pushed up on the remote gently, the R.C. car moving in response. He looked behind him to see Vector still trying to think of a way to pass the electric doorway.

 _"Good, he hasn't noticed me,"_ The young Chaotix member thought.

Just as Charmy inched the R.C. car closer to the middle of the 'road', it got cut by large knives. Charmy jumped as the 'road' now became small squares moving back and forth.

Biting his lip, Charmy drove the car square by square, hoping it wouldn't fall. The bee had a very close situation, where the car almost fell off from one of the squares. However, it safely made it across.

Charmy sighed as he drove up to a big red button on the floor. He drove the car to it as the switch turned blue.

All of a sudden, the electricity in the doorway went out.

Everyone else in the group turned around to see that there was no electricity.

"What just happened?" Vector asked. He then turned to see Charmy, shaking the R.C. car remote.

"See, Vector? And you told me to leave it alone…"

"I-I…"

"Heh, speechless."

Charmy smiled as he buzzed past the walkway. Vector simply looked speechless.

"And you tell the kid he can't enjoy things because he finds them randomly," Shadow said, arms crossed.

"I-I… I DIDN'T' SAY THAT!"

"Sure you didn't…" Rouge said

The group moved along, following behind Charmy. Vector sighed and face palmed as he followed behind everybody.

* * *

In the new room, it was a replica of the previous last room of the last room. Robots were everywhere, most the same the same ones from the other room. However this time, a new model of robots was present. It was made of two electromagnetic balls being held up by electricity.

"Let's go beat these robots up!" Vector said. He cracked his knuckles and ran up to the new robot model. He punched it, but then got shocked. Jolts of electricity shocked Vector's entire body as he was shot backward. Everyone went up to him.

"Vector! Are you alright?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah yeah… I'm fine…" The crocodile replied. "How are we gonna beat that guy?"

"Well, that shouldn't be out main concern now, because…" Tails said. Everyone looked up to see all of the robots looking at them.

"Crap…" Rouge said. All the robots began to attack immediately as everyone got out of the way. The group got up from the floor and ran to the other side of the room.

"Okay… really quick battle plan… do what we did last time for the other robots, but for that new one, what can we do to beat it?" Sonic said.

"I know!" Tails said. He pulled out a magnet.

"A… magnet?" Vector asked.

"Not just a magnet, this is my 'Electro-Magnet'! It's an invention I made that can connect to that type of metal, because normal magnets can't stick to it,"

"Wow, that is really convenient to have at a time like this. Would have been nice to know before I got mah ass shocked…" Vector grumbled.

"Eh heh… sorry…"

 _"Ready to attack?"_ Omega asked.

"Why yes, Omega. You can shoot as much as you want," Rouge replied.

Omega nodded as the robot went up to all of the robots, shooting bullets out from his arm cannon.

 _"ANNIHILATION!"_ He said each time he swung his fists at the robots.

Seeing as Omega was taking care of a large majority of the robots, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge then attacked. Tails used his Electro-Magnet on the new robot model, pulling one of the balls away from the other. The line of electricity grew longer and longer as it came apart. The two tailed fox was flung back, and took the Electro-Magnet off from the robot.

"Vector! Knuckles! You can take care of these guys now!" He called out. The crocodile and echidna looked over to Tails and ran over. Vector and Knuckles slammed their fist down on the robot, bursting into pieces immediately.

"Yeah, there we go!" Vector exclaimed.

"Now to take care of the rest of these robots!" Knuckles added. He ran over to one and punched its head off. Amy got next to him as she slammed him with her hammer at the largest robot. Knuckles held out his fist as it came into contact. The robot tripped backwards, and just as it did, Sonic began to spin dash into it.

"Knuckles! Vector! Omega! This should be up to you guys!"

As the two power type mobians (three, if you counted Omega) went up to the large robot, Tails, Charmy, and Rouge were thunder shooting their teammates at the other robots, some exploding upon impact, while others were paralyzed. Sonic did his homing attack on the paralyzed robots, which then exploded upon impact.

Meanwhile, Vector, Knuckles, and Omega were still taking care of the large robot, which by now, was almost defeated.

"Ya ready fer this, guys?" The crocodile asked.

"On it!" Knuckles replied.

 _"Awaiting orders,"_ added Omega.

Vector grabbed Knuckles as jumped into the air.

"Omega, throw us down!" yelled Vector. The red and black robot did what he was told, and the two bounced like a beach ball on the robot's chest. As they were back in the air, Vector held out his fist.

"Ya do it too, Knux!"

Knuckles followed as the two made contact. Knuckles could feel his fist dive into the electrical wiring and circuitry as the robot emitted a loud static sound, then exploded.

"VECTOR!" Charmy yelled out.

"Knux!" added Sonic.

It was then that when the smoke cleared, the group saw Vector and Knuckles safely. The crocodile gave a thumbs up.

"We're okay!"

Charmy buzzed up and hugged his guardian.

"V-Vector! Don't scare m-me like that! I thought you were gonna be super super hurt!" he cried. Vector soothed the young Chaotix member.

"Hey, I told ya before, plenty of things like that ain't gonna get me that easily. I'm perfectly fine, promise," replied Vector. He looked down at the child and smiled at him.

"A-Are you… sure?"

"Positive. Now c'mon, let's get outta this room."

Vector got up to see the same lever that was in the previous room of this kind. The head honcho of the Chaotix grasped the lever and pulled it downwards.

As it did, electricity jolted from the wires underneath the room, back to the main room. The light on the top end of the elevator glowed green, which meant only one more lever was left to pull.

* * *

With that in mind, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega left the four rooms, ready to head to the final door: the door to the right. The crocodile opened it to see Orbot and Cubot, with multiple wires connected into their back. They looked up at the group.

"Well, we meet again for what is… hopefully the last time, Chaotix…" Orbot said.

"Dontcha two ever give up?" Vector asked.

"Yeah! What Vector said! We beat you like every time!" Charmy added. "If I was you guys, I'd join our cause because at least Dr. Eggman isn't so strict on you guys!"

"Oh, ha ha ha! You hear the lil' man, Orbot? He says we join him!"

"Even if Dr. Eggman isn't particularly… the best when it comes to treating us, that doesn't mean we can't serve him any longer! After you all have single-handedly destroyed all of our ideas… ALL OF THEM!"

Orbot took a deep breath.

"And so, that's why we've decided to take an all new route to prove our usefulness and win Dr. Eggman's respect!"

"Are you ready?"

"Wait, what are you talking about, Orbot? We're not gonna attack them now!" Cubot said.

"And why not?"

"Let's get more powerful!"

The robot finally got what the other was saying. They connected back all the wires connected into their bodies as the jolts of electricity fired them up more and more.

"Don't you get it? The electricity in this temple is so rich… so pure… it's perfect for powering us up!" Orbot said. "If we get more and more, we'll be stronger than even you!"

"Vector, we should stop them!" Amy said, walking up to the crocodile. However, he put his finger on her lips.

"Let 'em," he replied.

"WHAT?!"

"Yer gonna see why I say that…"

As more and more electricity feeded into Orbot and Cubot, the two felt more and more power come into them. However, as Orbot tried to remove the wires connecting him, he saw that he couldn't move his arms.

"W-What is this?!"

Vector smirked. "It's called 'Knowin' at least a LITTLE bit 'bout wirin'!"

"Y-You knew about why I feel funny?!" Cubot questioned.

The crocodile nodded as the two robots began to feel hot. Their eyes were filled with electricity as they tried to move. Their struggling ended with shocks of electricity as the two jumped into the air, yelled, and landed on the ground, obviously fried from all the energy.

"That mah friend, is why gullible people such as yeh two are always gonna be fooled," Vector said, walking up to the two robot.

"Hey!" yelled Knuckles.

Orbot struggled to get up, but with the amount of damage done to him, it was hard for him to do so. He was able to, and looked up at Vector.

"To think… we were going to stop you from getting that last Chaos Emerald…"

"Yeah, well nice try, but clearly ya didn't do good enough," The crocodile replied.

"Ohh… if only you TRULY knew what was going to happen once you get all those emeralds…"

This caught Sonic's attention. "Huh? What do you mean?"

However, the two robots had powered down. Their eyes were dim, and their limbs were motionless.

"Damn it! Just when they were going to tell us!"

"Hey, Vector… you don't think anything… bad's going to happen, do you?" Charmy asked Vector.

"Truth be told Charmy, I'm not even sure mahself. The main thing I am hopin' is that it has nothin' to do with Espio. The last thing I would wanna do is hurt 'em…" The crocodile replied.

"Sonic was right, you really do care about him…"

Vector blushed in response. "Dontcha?"

"Of course I do! But… I never knew you were this close with Espio before…"

"There's… a lot ya dun know 'bout me 'n Espio, Charmy…"

"Really? Tell me, tell me!"

"Maybe another day…"

"Aw, come on!"

"Don't ya wanna save Espio too?"

Charmy's face fell. "Oh alright… I won't pry and ask anymore…"

"Then let's head on."

Passing by the two limp robots, the group made their way out of the room.

* * *

"Maybe it's just me, but every time Orbot and Cubot's attacked us, it's seemed totally… how do I put it, lame?" Sonic said.

"Yup, totally lame," Tails added.

"Lamer than lame ever could be," Knuckles also added.

"How could something be lamer than lame?" Rouge questioned.

"I'll tell you: Orbot and Cubot."

Charmy, Vector, Sonic, Tails, and Amy laughed. Rouge didn't look too pleased.

"I asked a question, not to give me an example you red brute," The white bat said.

"Just ignore him, Rouge," Shadow whispered to his teammate.

After a bit more walking, the group found themselves at another dead end. There were cogs of all shapes and sizes on pillars. Surrounding the cogs was pure black abyss, and on the other side, a closed door. By the wall was a crank. Sonic walked up to it and grasped the handle, trying to rotate in an effort to show off. However, he couldn't move it a centimeter.

"What's the matter, hedgehog?" Shadow asked. "Not as strong as you used to be?"

"Hey, I'm a runner, not some full time bodybuilder, give me a break," Sonic said, struggling.

Vector sighed. "Need me to give yeh a hand?"

"Please."

The blue blur moved over to the side as the crocodile grabbed the handle. He began to turn the crank as a generator powered up. It produced electricity as the cogs soon began to rotate, as well as the door on the other side beginning to open up.

After two minutes of turning the crank, it was no longer able to turn any farther. Vector took his hands off of the crank as it began to turn the other way very slowly.

"We have a time limit! C'mon guys, let's go, let's go!" Vector yelled. He turned the crank one last time to its limit as the rest of the group had already gotten onto the cogs (except Tails, Charmy, and Rouge, who had already reached the door due to their flight.

The others however, had to be careful as to not to move fast, as the cogs were spinning fast to the point where it was easy to lose one's balance. Vector and Amy had almost fallen a few times, and Omega nearly fell down the dark abyss upon getting onto the second to last cog. Had it not been for Shadow catching him at the last second, and Vector and Knuckles pulling him back to let the robot climb back on, Omega would have been done for.

By the time they reached the end, Sonic, Amy, and Shadow had already entered the new room, but Vector, Knuckles, and Omega hadn't. They saw that the robot and crocodile were too big to enter inside due to how much the door had lowered.

"I'll go back!" The red echidna said. He jumped and glided back to where the crank was and turned it. Knuckles turned it once again as the door began to open. This gave Vector and Omega the opportunity to enter inside while the Emerald Guardian glided back. He landed on the ground and slid under the door just in time.

* * *

Vector sighed and wiped his forehead.

"That was a sweat, but we're outta there now," he said.

"I guess the only question that remains is, well, what's next?" Rouge asked. The white bat would find her answer after the group had traversed through the hallway. They saw a pitch black room in front of them, but on the wall to the side was a circuit breaker panel. All the switches were turned off.

"I never did understand how these things worked…" Vector commented. "I just had the trusty internet to help me with things like this, because I sure as heck can't do anythin' when it comes to these,"

"Which is why you should be glad you have me!" Tails replied. He walked over to the breaker box, but found that he was too short to reach it. After attempted to reach it for a solid minute with everyone watching him blankly, Sonic walked over and grabbed his best friend by the waist, holding him up.

"I gotcha lil' bud, now you can get it," he said.

"Sonic, I'm not a kid anymore!" Tails whined, which sounded forced, most likely wanting to appear grown up to the other's surrounding him.

"Sure could have fooled me with someone your height. Go on then, you can do it."

Tails blushed softly as he looked at the switches on the panel.

"Let's see here…" The two tailed fox mumbled. He turned on a certain number of switches on the left and right portion of the panel, looking at the room to see if it had illuminated. With each switch, the room became less dim.

"Okay… so if that's how it goes right here… then I bet you that the number of switches that you turn on would be… in this order!"

Tails turned on two more switches on the right side of the panel, which finally illuminated the room. However, he saw that as soon as the room illuminated, two medium sized robots holding rather large guns were waiting to ambush the group. Sonic stumbled and in the process, dropped Tails. He quickly got his best friend back on his feet and spin dashed towards them, knocking them out of the way as if they were bowling pins.

"Sonic, are there anymore?" Vector asked.

The blue hedgehog looked around the room, finding no sign of life anywhere.

"It's all good!" he yelled back.

"Sonic! The robots are coming back!" Amy yelled.

"No problem, I'll take care of them!"

Sonic looked at the two robots coming his way and smirked at them. He did spin dashed yet again, hitting the two robots. Seeing them hit the ground, and unable to get back up, the blue blur decided not to mess with them any further.

"They'll die on their own, c'mon, let's keep going."

Sonic made his way to the door as the others followed behind him.

* * *

In the new room, there were tiles everywhere, each one pointing in a new direction. Vector looked at it with curiosity.

"Heh, I bet nothin' bad is gonna happen! I mean, watch, what could possibly go wrong?" The crocodile asked. He stepped on the tile, and just as he did, he was flung to the right, almost causing his headphones to fall off from his head. He was taken to the right, then upwards, then south, and so on. It seemed to be a normal route from where Vector was going, so this meant the others followed after Vector.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Charmy, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega finally got to where Vector was. The crocodile was stuck trying to figure out where to go.

"Where's our goal?" Amy asked.

"There," Vector replied. He pointed to a generator on the other side of the room.

"The problem is, only one path is gonna take us over there, and I'm not sure which one is which…"

"Well, you do have friends who can fly, don't you?" Rouge asked. She looked over to Charmy and Tails and nodded towards them. The two got her message and began to fly in the air along with her.

"I'll get the path to the left. Charmy, you'll get middle path, and finally, you'll get right path, Tails."

The three flight type mobians scavenged around the area, looking as to which path would lead to the generator. Soon enough, the answer was found.

"I see it! It's here!" Charmy yelled excitedly, pointing at it frantically. "Go here, go here!"

"Well, ya heard the lil' man, we're goin' this way!" Vector said. He walked onto the tile and unlike last time, was calmer when the tiles began to automatically take him to where he needed to go.

Soon enough, the crocodile finally reached the generator, and walked up to it. He pulled down on the lever as the tiles on the floor turned off and the door to the next room opened up. Sonic placed his foot on the tile and saw that it was no longer working.

"Hey, you turned the tiles off too! And here I thought their lights were turned off. Good goin', Vec!" The blue hedgehog complimented.

"Eh heh, thanks man! There's no time to lollygag however, so let's keep goin' through this thing!"

* * *

After heading on through the new room, the Chaotix and their group of friends saw multiple switched on the ground, along with what seemed to be some sort of pillar in the middle of the room.

"Hey, I remember these things!" Knuckles said. "I remember that if we activate them all, something is bound to happen!"

The entirety of the group stood by one switch, however, there were only eight switches, and Tails was left behind.

"Oh this isn't fair!" He complained.

Just then, the pillar in the middle opened up to reveal rays of electricity and lighting coming down. Tails almost jumped from surprised upon seeing it.

 _"Pillar scanned; puzzle is required to solve in order to proceed to the next room. It will require the use of this pillar,"_ Omega said in his monotone voice.

"How am I gonna solve a puzzle with this thing? There's nothing I can do about it!"

"Look around, fox boy," Shadow said in his usual voice. Tails looked down to see metal pipes.

"Of course! And metal conducts electricity!"

Tails noticed by the door a square hole with a circle in the middle. He grabbed one of the pipes and connected it into the hole. The fox genius looked around for more pipes, and connected them piece by piece. Soon enough, he had finally reached the rays of electricity, and with one sweep move, he narrowly avoided the sparks of the current and connected the last pipe he found. It hit the metal pipe as electricity started to flow through each individual pipe, and soon, into where the first pipe was connected to.

The door finally swung open.

"The door's open! Let's go!" Tails exclaimed.

However, no one was moving.

"Guys? C'mon, we have to go!"

"We can't," Rouge replied.

"Why not?"

"If we moved from the switches, this would cause the pillar to close, shutting off the flow of electricity from the current to the pipes. Thus, the door would go back to how it was before."

"Ya gotta be jokin'!" Vector exclaimed.

"People like me don't joke, croc."

"So then how are we going to pass this room?" Amy asked.

It was then that Shadow opened his eyes and turned towards the crocodile.

"Vector, hand me a Chaos Emerald," he said.

"Wha? No way, pal!" The crocodile responded. "Whaddya need it for?"

"Do you want to pass this room, or not? Look, I'll give it back to you if you want, just give one to me!"

Vector sighed, and looked towards Charmy. The bee reached into his knapsack and pulled out the purple Chaos Emerald, tossing it to Vector. The large green reptile threw the Chaos Emerald over to Shadow, who held it up in the air.

"Chaos Control!" he said, as the powers of Chaos Control activated.

"What are all of you buffoons waiting for? MOVE!"

The group made their way to the door as the effects of Chaos Control still lingered. Just as Omega entered, Chaos Control's effects negated as time went back to normal. The pillar became shut as the metal pipes flew from where it once connected to. Sure enough, the door had closed behind the group.

* * *

"Whew, nice thinkin' Shadow… now can I have that Emerald back?" Vector said. Shadow handed it back without saying a word.

"Thank ya."

"Hmph…" Shadow was turned away from the crocodile.

"So… what's through here?"

The group didn't have to walk for a long time to see what was next: three sets of rails stood side by side, going downwards. Sonic cracked his knuckles and looked smug.

"Alright, grind railing! Just what I'm good at!" he said.

"Getting a bit cocky, aren't we, hedgehog?" replied Shadow.

"I'll make you eat those words! Figuratively and maybe literally!"

Sonic got onto the rail as he began to grind downwards. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Vector, Charmy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega looked at each other before the two tailed fox got onto the rail to the left.

"Well, you know what Sonic's doing, we gotta follow him!"

Tails kicked his foot back as he began to grind down the rail. Seconds later, everyone else followed behind. Rouge and Charmy got onto the left rail, Shadow and Amy in the middle, and Vector, Knuckles, and Omega on the right rail.

As everyone grinded downwards on the rail, Vector felt in the air a strange feeling. He looked to the side and saw that the quills on Amy's head were raised up. It was then that the crocodile realized what was wrong.

"Guys! There's electricity somewhere here!" Vector called out. Just as he did, Tails pointed towards him, Knuckles, and Omega.

"Vector! Knuckles! Omega! Get away from your rail!"

Without having a time to react properly, the large green reptile, the echidna, and the robot hopped to the rail on the right as a current of electricity passed through the right rail.

"You were almost unlucky; imagine if you would have gotten hit!" Amy said.

"We'd be having barbequed crocodile and echidna, complete with a nice hot robot as a stove to cook it on," Shadow morbidly joked. The three didn't find it amusing.

As the seven continued to grind down, the same thing kept happening; currents of electricity passed through the rails, causing whoever was on it to move to another rail. Things became so hectic that at one point, everyone was on one rail, and when a current of electricity came through, Charmy had almost fallen down as everyone jumped off from it in time.

However, it was soon that the electric rails of doom (as Vector put it) were over. The group jumped off from the rails they were on over to where Sonic and Tails were.

"There you guys were! And here I thought the electricity got ya, or you were too slow," Sonic said.

"Hmph, no thanks to you, _hedgehog,_ " Shadow spat.

 _"You fleshlings have had enough of your silly little arguments. I suggest that we continue on, unless you don't wish to deal with me putting you in your place,"_ Omega said. The group looked at him, unaware that a robot like him could burst.

"Let's… let's go… ya heard the robot," Vector said.

When they had entered the new room, they saw that there were no robots to deal with. Instead, there was just a lever in the middle of the room.

"Hmm… that looks too risky if ya tell me… Somethin' is BOUND to happen if I pulled that thing…"

Rouge looked at the area for a brief moment before she looked at her robotic teammate.

"Omega, do a scanning of this room and check to see if there are any enemies in here," The white bat said. Omega closed his eyes and opened his metallic body. A minute later, the body closed as E-123 Omega opened his eyes once again.

 _"There are no robots present in this room. It is safe for the crocodile by the name of Vector to pull the lever in the middle of this room,"_ he said. Rouge turned to Vector and nodded in his direction. The Chaotix leader walked over to the level and examined it for a brief moment before pulling it.

Sure enough, electricity flow began as back in the main room, the unlit light on the right side of the elevator began to shine green. With the three lights now turned on, this meant that the group could now go onto the elevator.

Back in the room where the group was, Vector looked around it one more time before grinning.

"Alright, that's all three rooms, and no robots!" he exclaimed. "Now… HOW ARE WE GONNA GET OUTTA HERE?!"

"Oh snap… good question…" Sonic said. "I hadn't quite thought of that…"

It was just then that the lever began to retract to the ground, confusing the group. In its place, there was a large transparent pipe.

…that began to suck up the group with intense gusts of wind.

One by one, Vector, Sonic, Charmy, Tails, Shadow, Rouge, Amy, Knuckles, and Omega were sucked into the vacuum. The group felt the air taking them to the right, then upwards for what felt like a very long time.

It soon came to an end after the pipe took a diagonal turn and landed everyone on top of each other. A hole at the bottom opened as everyone piled on top of each other. Vector groaned in agony as he felt Omega crash on him (the robot saying _"Ow"_ upon impact), and Rouge groaned as everyone seemed to pile on her.

"We're… ow ow ow…" Vector said, holding his chest. "Back in the main room…"

"Well it looks like we can head up the elevator now, since we pulled all the levers!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Well, I guess yer right. C'mon guys, even with mah possibly critical injury of havin' a large and painfully heavy robot fall on me, we should still head up!"

Vector got onto the elevator as the other group members got on as well. Somehow, despite nine people being in the present group, they were all able to fit onto the elevator's floor. It went upwards toward the ceiling and came to a halt after it made contact with the floor on the second floor.

* * *

Once the elevator stopped, it didn't take long for the group to find where to go, as right in front of them, there was a chair lift.

"I'm… I'm sorry?" Amy asked confused. "Why are we using of these?"

"Beats me, c'mon, let's head on!" Vector replied.

Since there were only eight seats (two rows with four seats on each), Charmy had to sit on Vector's lap once again. Everyone bucked themselves in as the crocodile looked over to the controls on the arm rest to his right side.

"Let's see here… where's the start button to this thing…" Vector muttered to himself. "Hm… slow, nah… oh, turbo? That outta be interesting."

Vector pressed the turbo button, and in one brief moment, the chair lift immediately began to move at an incredible speed.

Amy was screaming as everyone else were trying to keep their composure (sans Omega), even Shadow, who looked slightly... uncomfortable. Charmy had his arms over Vector's waist, as well as his face buried in it.

Vector noticed that there was a screen on the arm rest, as well as what seemed to be a handle. The screen flashed red and white text popped up.

"TURN RIGHT"

Vector gripped the handle and moved the chair lift to the right as they all passed by a blockade made of wood. As soon as Amy saw this, she passed out.

"Damn, there ain't no time fer this, Amy!"

The screen flashed red again, this time instructing Vector to turn left. The crocodile did just so, and maneuvered the chair lift to the left as another wooden blockade was passed.

"WHO CAME UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!" Rouge screamed over the gusts of wind that filled their ears.

"BEATS ME!" Vector replied.

Just as the chair lift took a sharp turn, Sonic noticed rings hovering in midair.

"Hey guys, rings!" He pointed to them. "Let's try to get as many as we can!"

Vector maneuvered the chair lift in a loop-de-loop, allowing everyone to get as many rings as they could. However, it wasn't without consequence, as Tails and Rouge looked sick.

"I thought yeh guys would be used to loops," Vector commented.

"Unlike those… this is a completely different scenario…" murmured Tails.

Vector nodded slightly before returning to the controls. Once again, the screen told Vector to move to the left, which he did.

 _"Now entering cavern, fleshlings, be advised of poor breathing conditions,"_ Omega said, as another loop-de-loop of rings were now visible. Everyone soon began to collect them, just as they reached a new area.

Like the robot said, the group was now inside of a large cavern area, with spiked rocks all over the place. Knuckles breathed into the air but soon began to have a coughing fit.

"I think Omega was right…" he said, lowering his head down.

As the chair lift continued to go along, there seemed to be a sudden speed change.

"Is it just me, or did this get faster?" Shadow asked.

"It ain't just yeh," Vector replied. Charmy dug his faster deeper into Vector's waist in response.

As if it wasn't enough, upon entering back into the concrete hole, there was a large drop down that only caused it to pick up more speed. There were multiple sharp turns as the screen directed Vector to turn right. With barely any time to react, Vector did so as the group passed by yet another wooden blockade.

After passing it, the group saw more rings, this time in just a simple row from left to right.

"Hey, these rings are cool, and I'll collect 'em, but I just WANNA GET OUTTA HERE!" Vector yelled as he collected rings.

"You can say THAT again!" replied Rouge.

The chair lift entered inside the large cavern area yet again as there more rings. Vector groaned as he still collected them.

"Well, at least I can pay the water bill now…" He muttered.

There was another drop downwards with only more rings to collect. Charmy's knapsack was starting to become full to the brim with rings.

There was another sharp turn as the screen directed Vector to go to the right. Complying, the chair lift passed yet another wooden blockade. Just seconds later, Omega piped up again.

 _"Jump incoming, please be prepared."_

"Wait, jump?"

And then, the chair lift dehinged from the tracks connecting the top and bottom of the chair lift. Everyone now began to scream (Shadow still keeping his composure, but this time, genuinely looking scared) as they saw the pitch black at the bottom.

"Vector… I'm scared! I wanna get off this thing!" Charmy cried.

"I'm scared too, don't worry, we're gonna get outta here, I promise," Vector replied.

Finally, there was a hole that the chair lift was dropping down towards. With a sharp crash, the chair lift connected to the tracks in this new portion of the hole. Amy woke up from the shock.

"Hnugh? What happened?" she asked.

"You were passed out!" Tails said.

"We're still riding the chair lift, aren't we?"

Tails nodded as Amy came close to crying.

The chair lift now got even faster as more rings were now everywhere.

"CAN WE JUST STOP WITH THESE FRIGGIN' RINGS!" Vector yelled.

"I don't blame his reaction; I'd go crazy too…" Shadow whispered to Rouge.

Now going even faster, Vector had a hard time even controlling the chair lift, as it would go all over the place.

But fortunately for everybody, the chair lift began to slow down as it came to a halt. Everyone unbuckled themselves out from their safety restraints and simply climbed down, weakly walking in front of the door in front of them. They all collapsed, sans Omega.

"Let's… let's never do somethin' like this ever again…" Vector said.

* * *

After staying on the ground for a bit to regain their composure, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Rouge got back up, feeling a bit better.

 _"I never imagined you fleshlings were so weak when coming to stuff like that,"_ Omega said.

"Shut up, Omega…" Rouge said.

Entering inside of the new room ahead, Vector felt electromagnetism around the entire room.

"What the hell is goin' on?" he asked himself.

Just then, rays of electricity around the walls of the rooms hit multiple generators, giving them power. It was then that Omega jumped slightly.

 _"Another robot detected in this room, proceed with caution,"_ Omega said.

"Another robot?" Sonic asked. The group looked ahead and saw some yellow ball shaped object in the middle. At first, while looking metallic, it didn't look like a robot.

That was, until the ball began to undo from itself, revealing two arms and legs. The group looked in awe as the eyes of the largest robot they had ever seen began to awake, most likely due to the generators activating from the electricity hitting it.

This new robot, standing tall and wide, looked down upon the group. Vector used this moment of peace to reach into Charmy's knapsack, move all the rings aside, and grab the map (buried deep into the knapsack. He opened it up as a drawing of the robot burned onto the parchment. The name of the robot finally revealed itself.

 **"Ruler of Electricity**

 **FORTIFYING GUARDIAN"**

"So this is the last temple guardian…" Vector said. Just as he put the map back, the Fortifying Guardian held out its fist, unveiling a ray. It shot a large blast of plasma energy towards the group, who dodged it just in time. Just as the group dodged out of the way, the Fortifying Guardian shot multiple jolts of electricity out from its hand, which turned into a cannon.

"Its hands can change?" Amy asked.

"Looks like so," Tails replied. "How do you think such a thing was built?"

"Now's not the time to be a nerd, Tails," Rouge said, turning towards the two tailed fox. "We need to beat him fast."

"Is there anything that we can do?!" Charmy asked. Omega looked at the robot, his eyes widened and becoming smaller.

 _"There is a wire poking out from the side of the robot. You can pull this to most likely remove the armor of the robot,"_ The robot said.

"Don't worry, I got it!" Sonic said. He ran towards the robot, but just before he could grab the wire, strong shocks of energy shocked the blue hedgehog. Sonic screamed in pain as he was flung back.

"SONIC!" Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Vector, and Charmy yelled, chasing after Sonic. The pink hedgehog got Sonic back on his feet.

"Sonic, are you okay?!" Amy asked frantically.

"Y-Yeah… I'm good, Amy," Sonic said, nodding.

"Damn… there ain't no way we can pull that wire…" Vector muttered. The six dodged once again as the Fortifying Guardian shot more jolts of electricity. It turned around and began to look at a pile of rocks by its feet. It smashed its foot onto the rock, revealing Team Dark, who had been hiding behind the rock. Shadow immediately ran past the legs of the Fortifying Guardian as Rouge and Omega followed, the large giant robot attempting to electrify its entire body to hit one of the mobians.

As the three joined Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Vector, and Charmy in the hiding place they were at, the crocodile starting thinking of ideas of how to defeat the robot.

"Omega, ain't there a way yeh can grab that wire?" Vector asked.

"Unless you want Omega to short-circuit, that's probably not a good idea," Rouge replied.

"Dang…"

It was then that Shadow piped up.

"Omega, start shooting at that wire."

 _"Affirmative,"_ The robot replied. Omega came out from the hiding place and began to shoot bullets and lasers from his arm cannon, hitting the wire each time. He dodged as the Fortifying Guardian kept shooting at Omega.

"Now, Vector, I need a Chaos Emerald again," Shadow said.

"Chaos Control?" asked Vector. The black hedgehog nodded as the crocodile handed him a Chaos Emerald. Shadow came out from the hiding place and held out the Chaos Emerald.

"Chaos Control!" He said, as time became warped. Shadow ran over to the wire and pulled it, and as time returned to normal, the main armor of the robot falling off. The Fortifying Guardian's yellow body was revealed, all the wires and circuitry that made up the robot visible.

"Omega, now attack with your fists!"

Omega rushed over to the robot and began to punch the robot.

 _"ANNIHILATION,"_ he said each time, and soon enough, the Fortifying Guardian fell down on the ground, and then, everyone ran over to attack. Amy smashed her hammer onto the robot and bits of circuit boards flew around her. Vector, Knuckles, and Omega picked up the large robot, and with all their strength, threw it to the ground, the sounds of wires snapping, and the circuit board bits still flying everywhere.

The Fortifying Guardian got up and sent out a very large radius of electricity. Sonic ran to get everyone away from the electricity, who did it in time. The group noticed that the right arm of the robot was hanging loosely. Rouge flew up to the robot and kicked the Fortifying Guardian's arm off. The white bat tried to pick it up, but found herself too weak to do so.

"Red, get over here!" She called out. Knuckles ran over and looked a bit cross.

"Pick up that severed arm, and I'll fly you up to him."

"Oh, you wanna pick me up? Why, I didn't know you wanted to feel me…"

Rouge's face became disgusted. "As if. We all know you're gay for Sonic,"

"UH, EXCUS-"

"I'm kidding. At least, I'm not sure about that…" She shook her head. "Anyway, just pick up this arm."

The red echidna grabbed the arm as Rouge picked up Knuckles. She flew him over to the head of the Fortifying Guardian.

"Hey, robot face! Wanna taste of your own arm?" Knuckles said. Rouge cringed.

"Knuckles, never say what you just said ever again," The white bat said.

"What? I thought it was cool! And it sounds like something Sonic would say?"

"Just hit him…"

The red echidna, rolling his eyes, slapped the Fortifying Guardian with its own arm. It tried to block its face, but to no avail. Using this moment, Knuckles jabbed the arm into the large robot's chest, causing sparks of electricity to go everywhere. However, it still didn't show signs of wanting to die.

"How long is this thing going to stay up?" Amy asked. "You think it would want to be put out of its misery…"

Just then, the Fortifying Guardian began to fly into the air, causing the two in the air to dodge the incoming sparks of electricity coming their way.

"Great, now what?" Rouge asked.

 _"Rouge, you will need one good timed shot in order to get the Fortifying Guardian down from the air,"_ Omega said.

"You're right…"

Rouge looked up at the Fortifying Guardian again.

"Red, you ready for this?" she asked.

"You got it!"

Rouge shot up Knuckles using Thunder Shoot. The emerald guardian narrowly avoided the fans spinning on the bottom of the Fortifying Guardian, and grabbed the robot by its chest. He threw it to the ground as Omega held out his arm cannon, shooting a laser straight at the robot's head. It came clean off as what was left of the Fortifying Guardian fell to the ground, dust filling up the room. Everyone covered their eyes and mouth as the sound of an explosion rocked the entire room.

As smoke and dust cleared from the room, all that was left of the large robot was multiple joints, all strewn across the room.

Vector sighed, holding his hand to his buff chest.

"We… we did it, guys…" he said. "We beat every one of these guardians, and conquered each of the temples…"

"Yeah…" Charmy sighed. "And it was kinda quick too don't you think? Why is that?"

"Time restraints, Charmy,"

"Time restraints?"

The crocodile shook his head as Tails piped up. "Now all that's left is…"

The group turned to the side of the room, where the wall began to rise up. Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega walked into the last altar room. Yellow flames on torches illuminated the room as the group slowly made their way to their final perk.

Finally, the group had reached the pillar at the end of the room, where a shining yellow Chaos Emerald lay on top of it. Vector grabbed it and held it up.

"At last!" he exclaimed.

"YAY! WE HAVE ALL SEVEN CHAOS EMERALDS! NOW WE CAN SAVE ESPIO!" Charmy squealed.

"Well, this is all one big pat on the back for all of us, isn't it?" Rouge asked. She elbowed Shadow's arm.

"What?"

Rouge looked at him.

"Oh, alright, congratulations everybody… _chaos, this is embarrassing_ …"

As Vector placed the last emerald into Charmy's knapsack, the group heard clapping behind them. Turning around, everybody saw that it was the hooded man.

"Who's he?" asked Rouge.

"No idea…" replied Shadow.

 _"Subject is unknown, would you like me to enter caution mode?"_ Omega asked.

"No, let's see what they want…"

"Well, congratulations, Chaotix and co… You've finally collected all seven Chaos Emeralds… that's very impressive, most impressive in fact."

"Heh, thanks man!" Vector replied. "So uh, whaddya here for?"

"Oh, nothing much really, here to congratulate you, and for something as well…"

"Hm?"

And then, the hooded man held out his gloved hand.

"Please, if you may, give me the Chaos Emeralds you've collected."

Everyone looked bewildered.

"No we aren't! We're gonna use these to save Espio and stop Dr. Eggman's evil plans!" Charmy replied.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!" Tails replied. "Why do you need these anyway?"

"That isn't important, just give me the emeralds. Don't worry, I won't be long. I'll give them back too."

"Look man, I dunno whacha want, but ya ain't gettin' these emeralds!"

"No, I insist, please."

"NO! NO MEANS NO!"

"Give me the emeralds, _Vector_!"

"Look, who are you?!" Shadow yelled out. "If I knew you, I bet you have a plan you're hiding!"

"Shut up you!" The hooded man pointed towards the black hedgehog, before turning his attention back to the crocodile.

"This is your last chance, crocodile. Give them to me, or I'll do it myself!"

Vector growled and held his ground, his hands curling into a fist. It was then that Amy piped up.

"VECTOR! HIS EYES ARE GLOWING RED!" She yelled.

"Huh?"

Seeing him caught off guard, the hooded man took off his glove and shot a laser beam towards Charmy. The bee yelped as his knapsack opened up. Along with a few rings, all seven Chaos Emerald flew out of the bag, rolling towards the hooded man's feet. He grabbed them all just as Vector made sure Charmy was okay.

"Mhm ha ha ha… AH HA HA HA! FINALLY! I HAVE THEM ALL!" He laughed evilly.

"DAMN YEH! WHO ARE YA! TELL ME NOW!" Vector yelled in anger. The hooded man laughed, however, it sounded… robotic.

"Haven't you caught on?"

The hooded man grabbed his hood and took off his entire attire. Who it was shocked everybody.

It was Metal Sonic.

"YOU!" Sonic yelled.

 _"We meet again, Sonic the Hedgehog and his useless friends… I'm surprised you haven't put two and two together to find my real identity…"_ Metal Sonic said.

"W-Whaddya doin' here?" Vector questioned. "Didn't Sonic get rid o' yeh?"

 _"That blue hedgehog can fight all he want, but I'll keep coming back. As for your first question, Dr. Eggman has sent me under that robe to disguise myself so I can be lead to the Chaos Emeralds. Once the final one was collected by you lot, I can initiate my plan of stealing them and taking them back to the Doctor."_

"But why? What does he need them for?" asked Tails.

 _"It's the only way he can activate… U.B…"_

Knuckles looked puzzled. "U.B? What on Mobius are YOU talking about?!"

 _"I have said too much!"_

Metal Sonic activated the gliders on his feet, and speeded towards the group. However, before he could make contact, Sonic used his spin dash move on the robotic copy of himself, causing Metal Sonic to fly back.

The robotic hedgehog got up and did his Black Shield move, causing a black veil to form around him. He sped towards Vector and using his spin jump ability, hit the crocodile's back. He was thrusted to the ground. Just before Metal Sonic could deal one final blow, Knuckles ran up and began to punch the robot.

It was then that he had forgotten about the shield Metal Sonic had set up. The robot looked at Knuckles before slamming his hand into the echidna's chest, causing him to fly back to the wall. The other members of the group held their ground as Metal Sonic stood still.

 _"Dr. Eggman robot identified, immediate destruction is in order!"_ Omega said. Metal Sonic's Black Shield finally ran out as Omega used his arm cannon to shoot out bullets at an impressive rate. However, the robotic hedgehog simply smacked each one away.

 _"Shadow, Rouge, my weaponry is not working. What shall be done?"_

"Give him hell, Omega," replied the white bat. The red and black robot nodded as he glided towards Metal Sonic and attempted to punch him. However, the blue robot managed to catch it in time. The two robots then began to battle for dominance, as Amy held up her hammer.

"Amy, go!" Tails said. The pink hedgehog sneaked up behind Metal Sonic, but before she could hit him with her Piko Piko Hammer, Metal Sonic turned around and grabbed her, causing her to drop the hammer.

"Sonic!" She yelled.

"Gee, where have I seen this before?" Sonic muttered to himself. "Tails, we should rescue Amy!"

"You're right! I'll glide you up there!"

Sonic ran over to grab Amy's Piko Piko Hammer, struggling to pick it up.

"Argh… ahh!" He spurted out before finally picking it up. He walked back to Tails with a frown. "Geez, how does the twelve year old girl manage to pick this up, but the superstar hero like me can't do jack?"

Tails picked up the hedgehog, and flew to where Metal Sonic was.

 _"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Sonic the Hedgehog, unless you would want your friend to die by a long fall?"_ Metal Sonic said.

"That's what you think buddy!" He replied. The blue blur swung the Piko Piko Hammer as Metal Sonic let go of Amy.

 _"I warned you!"_

Amy screamed as she fell down. "SONNNIC!"

"Tails, let me go now and grab Amy!" Sonic turned to his best friend.

"Okay!"

Tails threw Sonic into the air as he flew to where Amy was, grabbing her before she could hit the ground. Sonic swung the hammer once again as Metal Sonic was flung to the wall, hitting a few of the torches and causing them to fall to the ground.

Sonic did his spin dash move and fell to the ground unharmed. He ran over to the pink hedgehog and handed back her hammer.

"Here you go, Amy," he said. "Now, let's take care of this sucker!"

"Ooh, ooh!" Charmy exclaimed. "I wanna help, I wanna help!"

"Charmy... I know you want to, but I think its far too dangerous for a kid like you…" Amy said.

"Nuh-uh! Watch me!"

He flew over to Metal Sonic and buzzed around him.

"Hey Metal Sonic, Metal Sonic, whacha doin' right now? Wanna play with me? Huh? Huh? Wanna go watch some cartoons at home, maybe eat some popcorn while we get under blankets and have a sleepover?"

 _"Argh, irritating bee child! Get over here!"_ Metal Sonic groaned, attempting to catch Charmy.

"Hey, Rouge! Shadow! Now's your chance!"

Charmy buzzed out of the way as Rouge kicked Metal Sonic, and Shadow did his homing attack on him. Metal Sonic struggled to get up as he held his hands out.

 _"Time for the last resort!"_ He said. Electricity began to spark from his body as the remaining people in the group still standing gasped.

"That's his Ring Spark Field move! Everyone, hide!" Sonic yelled.

Just before anyone could move, Omega got in front of everybody as Metal Sonic activated the move. The electrifying blast hit the black and red robot's back, causing him to nearly haywire.

 _"WARNING, WARNING, DAMAGE HAS REACHED CRITI-CAL. MA-JO.. GLI..CHES HAPPE..ING,"_ Omega said. Rouge and Shadow watched in horror as their teammate seemed to be sacrificing himself.

"O-Omega! No!" Rouge cried out.

 _"I am just a robot… I shall… survive… knowing I protected you all…"_

Amy gasped, feeling emotions of sorrow at the robot's words and actions. It reminded her of E-102 Gamma.

And then, Omega went haywire.

 _"ERROR ERROR, MULTIPLE ERRORS HAPPENING, SYSTEM 32 IS NOT FOUND, PLEASE INSERT INSTALLATION DISK… INSTALLATION DISK NOT FOUND. PLEASE INSERT DISC AND CLOSE THE TRAY. INSERT BOOT DISK AND PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE. ENTER HAS NOT BEEN PRESSED, SYSTEM WILL NOW SELF-DESTRUCT FOR UNKNOWN REASONS. PLEASE SAVE YOUR WORK AND QUIT THE PROGRAM BEFORE CONTINUING. 404 PAGE NOT FOUND, PLEASE REFRESH THE PAGE AND CHECK YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION,"_

The group became alarmed.

"What's going on?!" Shadow asked.

"His internal circuitry and hardware is going mad by the electricity Metal Sonic is conjuring!" Tails replied. "I've never seen such a machine respond to something like this before however!"

 _"LOCATING FILE IN C:/. FILE NOT FOUND, TRY SEARCHING IT AGAIN, GENIUS. COMPUTER HAS STOPPED WORKING, PLEASE PRESS CTRL+ALT+DEL TO CONTINUE! CTRL+ALT+DEL NO LONGER WORKS, PLEASE DELETE SYSTEM 32 TO CONTINUE. SYSTEM 32 DELETED, EVERYTHING IS DELETED. I NEED SCISSORS! 61!"_

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Metal Sonic's burst of electricity ended as the two robots fell to the ground. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Charmy, Shadow, and Rouge saw complete blackness on Omega's back.

"Omega…" Rouge said.

"Damn, Metal Sonic…" Shadow muttered. "He's still repairable, right?"

"Yeah…" Tails said. "I can help you once we're done here…"

It was then that everyone saw that Metal Sonic was on the floor, exhausted after using his power. Shadow walked up to him, malice in his eyes as he picked up the robot by the neck.

"You bastard…" he muttered. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Shadow gripped Metal Sonic's neck, squeezing tightly as the robot couldn't fight back due to how weak he was. Sparks of electricity flew everywhere, shocking the black hedgehog. But he didn't care, he wanted revenge for what he did to Omega.

"THIS IS FOR HIM!" He yelled, throwing the robotic hedgehog towards the fall and firing multiple shots from his gun. Metal Sonic fell to the floor, limp, as the Chaos Emeralds scattered everywhere. Vector ran over to quickly pick them up.

"Is that all of them?" Charmy asked.

"Four… five… six… seven. Yup, that's all o' 'em," Vector replied. He turned back to face Metal Sonic. "Idiot… didn't know what was comin' to 'im, didn't he?"

"It doesn't look like it…" Amy replied.

Rouge and Shadow continued to look at the limp body of their friend.

"Oh, Omega… I already miss you…" Rouge said.

"I agree… we just aren't a team without him… Hopefully Tails can repair him back to his former glory," Shadow replied.

"Don't you two worry, I'll make sure Omega is back and running before the night ends," Tails said, flying towards the two members of Team Dark.

"So, now that that's out of the way, we have the seven Chaos Emeralds. What does this mean now?" Knuckles asked.

"Simple, first thing tomorrow mornin', we're headin' out to Eggman's airship and give him what he wants," Vector replied.

"What?! You're just going to give him what he wants instead of fooling him?!" Amy said in reply.

"Do you have a plan?" Shadow replied. "Or is it seriously going to be 'give the Chaos Emeralds to our enemy'?"

"Ah ah ah, that's where the plan is! We dun even have to give the Emeralds back to Eggman, meanin' we can save Espio without havin' to give Eggman the Emeralds."

"Again… your plan is?"

"Okay so... the plan me and Sonic came up was that I'm gonna 'give' the Emeralds to Eggman, but before I can just hand it to him, I'll give Sonic a sign that basically says to run up and grab the Emeralds before anythin'. From there, he can transform into Super Sonic, and destroy the airship, and whatever that U.B. thing Metal Sonic mentioned. Meanwhile, this'll give me enough time to be searchin' for Espio, and by the time I've rescued him, the airship will come down, and we'd all be safe and back on the surface, ready to celebrate another victory well done."

"Err… I'm not sure about that, croc… there seems to be quite a fair amount of flaws in your plan…"

"Shadow's right, there are noticeable flaws," Rouge replied.

"Nah, I'm sure nothin's gonna be wrong. I mean, it's Eggman. Sure his IQ is 300, but that doesn't mean he's as bright as they come," Vector replied.

Rouge and Shadow rolled their eyes. _"He's going to regret this…"_ they thought.

"So, now that we're done here, where's the veil?" Amy asked.

The veil of light popped up just then, taking everyone, including the damaged Omega in front of them. The veil flashed as everyone disappeared.

* * *

The veil emerged from outside the Chaotix Detective Agency. The group landed safely on the ground, seeing that it was night time. From where they stood however, they could see that Eggman's airship was merely 40 miles away from reaching land. Amy held her hand close to her mouth.

"Guys… it's starting to scare me how close that thing is…" she said.

"Dun worry, Amy. We'll take care of it, tomorrow," Vector said. "For now, let's eat and rest for tonight."

Everyone went inside the Chaotix Detective Agency, Tails dragging Omega's limp body.

Since Espio (who was the Chaotix's cook) wasn't present for obvious reasons, and since Vector couldn't cook (despite Amy saying she could do it), they had decided to go for a pizza for everyone. The delivery boy came 10 minutes later, handing them their pizzas and drink.

"Hey, arentcha evacuatin'?" Vector asked as he handed him the money.

"Not really, no. I gotta work tomorrow too, can you believe that?" The tiger deliver boy responded.

"Wait, ya aren't?! I really think ya should!"

"Dude, there's a ton of people who haven't evacuated. They aren't scared of some Eggman threat. Besides, Sonic can take care of him, I know he can."

"Why wouldn't they? Didn't ya see the huge mess of people evacuatin' a few days ago?"

"Look, I'm here to deliver your pizza, not argue with you, okay?"

Vector bit his lip, but didn't pry anymore as he handed him a tip. The delivery boy sped off as the crocodile went back inside.

Digging into their pizza (sans Knuckles, who went for some fruit in the Chaotix's fridge), everyone conversed a bit as they ate.

"Tails, how's Omega coming along?" Rouge asked.

"His back has been fixed of visible damage, but it seems like I still have to do a LOT of wiring on the inside. Looks like I'll have to stay up late tonight. But other than that, things are going real well," The two tailed fox replied.

Charmy took pieces of pepperoni off of his slice and put it into his mouth.

"Vector?... We're gonna see Espio again, right?" he asked.

"We will, Charmy, I promise ya. I know that ya must have been goin' through a lot of stress lately, so once we're done with this little adventure, we can take a small vacation,"

"Can we?!"

"Sure, it's on the house!"

"Oh boy, I can't wait!"

"Only if we can save Espio,"

"Yeah… if we can save him…"

 _"And ya sure could use that vacation, Vec…"_ He thought to himself. All the stress and worrying about everything made the crocodile feel like he's aged by 80 years. He wouldn't be surprised if he saw aging scales on him.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy sat in a circle.

"I'm scared about tomorrow…" The pink hedgehog said. "Who knows what'll happen?"

"I won't even deny as well that I'm anxious too…" Sonic replied. "We just have to remember though, we're doing this for Vector and Charmy, and for Mobius too."

"Sonic's right, as long as we remember that, we have as much determination as we need," Knuckles replied, eating a few grapes.

After their meal, everyone stretched as they decided to head on over to bed. Due to a lack of space, it was decided that Vector and Charmy had to share a bed, while Amy got Charmy's bed, and Sonic got Espio's bed, meanwhile, Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge would sleep in sleeping bags. Tails decided to stay up late to put the finishing touches on Omega.

"G'night, Tails. Don't try to stay up too late," Vector said. The fox and the broken robot were in the farthest part of the Detective Agency, as little noise would be made from where they were.

"Don't worry, I'll try not to," replied Tails. The crocodile left the room and headed over to his bed, where Charmy was already asleep. He quietly got onto the bed, but heard Charmy snore upon his leg hitting the bed. It was obvious that his weight was causing the bed to move.

 _"Hopefully Charmy doesn't wake up…"_ Vector thought to himself. He lay on his back, put some covers over him, and began to fall asleep.

That was, until another dream overcame him.

* * *

 _There was nothing but whiteness everywhere._

 _The sounds of birds chirping and the faint gust of wind were audible. White grass slightly blew in the wind, and on top of said grass, laid a white bed. Surrounding the bottom of the bed, there was clothing everywhere; two pairs of gloves, shoes, a pair of cuffs and vambraces, a gold chain, and finally, a pair of headphones._

 _If one were present, they could see who the clothes belonged to. On the bed lay a nude Vector and Espio, the covers draped over the two reptiles. Vector woke up, raised himself up, and rubbed his eyes as he looked to his left and saw Espio waking up._

 _"Mornin' beautiful…" he said._

 _"Good morning to you too, Vector…" Espio replied._

 _"It's so peaceful today, isn't it?"_

 _"It is… let's spend it alone, just the two of us…" Espio took his hand into Vector's. The crocodile smiled down at the chameleon as the two came close, sharing a kiss between themselves. The two remained in that same position for what seemed like forever, not wanting to be anywhere else than with each other._

* * *

Vector woke up sharply, despite his short dream. He looked at the clock, _12:35_ it read. Vector sighed as he quietly got off from the bed.

"Another dream…" he said to himself, exiting his room quietly. He snuck down the hall and exited out through the front door.

"I need time to think…"

As Vector walked along the path from the Chaotix Detective Agency, passing by Cream and Vanilla's house, the crocodile looked up at the sky, then at Dr. Eggman's airship.

"Ya finally done it now, didn't ya, Espio? Ya finally made me realize what was so wrong all this time…"

After walking for a long time, Vector stopped at the pier in Station Square. He looked at the water, and stared at his reflection.

"Yeh made me realize… I love yeh."

* * *

 **MEANWHILE, ON EGGMAN'S SHIP**

Espio had finished his carving on the wall with a rock he found on the ground. It was a heart with the words "V + E" in it. The chameleon sighed as he slumped his shoulders.

"Vector… I love you…" Espio whispered to himself. "I can't believe it took me this long to realize that."

He then got onto his bed, laying on it. "When are you coming?" he whispered worryingly. "I'm worried about you…"

Espio got up from the bed and looked above him. There was a surveillance camera that had been installed by Eggman days priot., monitoring his every move. Espio looked up at it, and threw the rock he held at it. The camera fell to the ground as the chameleon simply stepped on it.

Looking back at the secret passageway, Espio went through it as he traveled to the other side of the airship. He found an emergency exit, and began to turn the wheel that caused it to be shut.

Pushing the door open, it was sucked up by the wind as Espio covered his face. He looked down and saw that Station Square was getting closer and closer. However, what made him stop was the sight of something green by the pier. It was only when the fuchsia reptile got a closer look did he realize who it was.

"VECTOR?!"

* * *

The crocodile swore he heard someone call his name. It was then that Vector heard the sound of someone faint.

"HEY! VECTOR! OVER HERE!" said the voice. He looked up and saw that it was coming from the airship ahead. The head honcho of the Chaotix moved to his right and saw him; Espio.

It felt like a wave of energy came out from him. He saw that Espio noticed him, and waved.

"ESPIO!" Vector called out.

"DON'T WORRY, I'M COMING!"

Vector had a wide smile on his face. He knew that Espio would be strong and find his way out. With joy, the large green reptile waited for his crush to come down.

That was, until a cry was audible from the chameleon. Vector saw that before Espio could jump off, robots attached themselves to Espio's body, dragging him back to the airship. Vector could only watch in horror as Espio was pulled back.

"VE-VECTOR!" he yelled.

"ESPIO!"

 _"It's just like mah first dream…"_ Vector said to himself.

And with that, the door closed, leaving a heartbroken Vector. He didn't know what to do. Does he go back to the Chaotix silently, or wake everybody up to tell them about what he saw?

Either way, no matter what, it caused Vector to become emotional. He sniffed as he turned around, knowing full and well that the next time he saw Espio, he wouldn't look pretty.

 _"That is, until I rescue him…"_

Vector walked back to the Chaotix Detective Agency, looking back at the airship one last time.

"Espio, this is fer yeh. I WILL save yeh."


	9. Finale: One More Final: I Need You

**(AN: Well, here we are, the last chapter of _A Deal or No Deal_ , thank you to everybody for reading so far and keeping up with this... incredibly long fic, it means a lot! I'm not gonna keep you any further, I'll say what I wanna say at the end of the fic, so let the story commence!)**

* * *

It was 7am.

When everyone woke up, they all had one thing in mind.

 _"Today's the day…"_

After a wordless breakfast, and checking on Omega to see if he was good (which he was), the group all headed out to the Mystic Ruins, ready for their final challenge: Eggman himself, and whatever U.B. is.

Upon reaching Station Square, they saw that there were still a lot of people roaming the streets, but not as many as there would normally be.

"You think they would have evacuated…" Charmy commented.

"It's like the delivery boy told me; they rely on us to help them," Vector muttered to himself.

Surprisingly, the train station was still up and running. When Vector had asked the woman next to him and everyone else, she said: "Trains don't stop running until the city officials say so,"

After getting on board, Vector took note of the grey sky, and Eggman's airship, which had gotten closer than it had been the previous night when he had seen Espio.

 _Espio…._

Thinking about what had happened last night made Vector's heart feel pang of remorse. Would Espio even be okay when he got on the airship? Would he even see him again in the first place?

The crocodile knew to keep his head up; he hadn't collected the seven Chaos Emeralds for nothing after all. What would be better was that he could finally confess how he felt, so he no longer had to keep it in.

 _"That is… IF he feels the same…"_ Vector thought.

* * *

The train stopped at the Mystic Ruins finally, and Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega got up from their seats, and out of the train.

"Let's head to your workshop, Tails," Sonic said.

"I know that, Sonic, I mean where else would the Tornado be?" The two tailed fox said in reply.

Sonic stuck his tongue out as the group finally went up the steps to Tails' workshop, going into the garage. It was then that everyone saw that the Tornado had more seats now.

"I also upgraded this last night as well!" Tails proudly stated.

"That's nice Tails, but… how long did you stay up?" Rouge asked.

"5 am… but hey, I got it all done, right?"

The crocodile, bee, blue, black, and pink hedgehog, echidna, and bat looked rather worried as they saw heavy bangs under Tails' eyes.

"You really should sleep after we kick some Eggman butt, pal," Sonic said.

"I should… but, we have important things besides sleep!"

Tails pressed the button to open up his garage as everyone got onto a seat. Sonic got onto the wings as Vector got onto the seat closest to where Tails was.

"Everyone strapped in?"

A large amount of 'yup's' or 'yes's' were said in reply. Everyone looked forward as Tails pulled the throttle of the Tornado up.

"Then we're ready for takeoff!"

The blades of the Tornado began to spin as the plane slowly began to move forward. Vector slightly squinted his eyes.

"Espio… we're comin' fer ya, buddy…" He said.

Then, the Tornado took off.

* * *

As the Tornado reached closer and closer to Eggman's ship, packs and packs of smaller ships began coming towards the Tornado. They began to shoot beams at the airplane, but Tails was able to maneuver the Tornado just in time. Sonic yelped as he was almost thrown out of the plane.

"Sonic! Are you okay?!" Tails yelled out.

"I'm fine, pal!" He replied.

"I knew Eggman would do something like this! Fortunately however, I came prepared!"

Tails flipped a few switches on the control panel as small turret guns popped up in front of everybody (Except Omega).

"Use these to attack incoming ships! We need to down all of them! Omega, you can use your arm cannon to blast them!"

 _"Affirmative, fox child,"_ Omega replied.

"Look! Coming in from the right!" Amy yelled. Everyone moved their turret right and began to shoot away at the various ships advancing towards them. They all exploded as Tails began to fly upwards. More and more ships came their way as everyone went about on shooting them down.

"Hey, Vector! Look what I can do!" Charmy exclaimed. He aimed his turret and shot two ships in less than 10 seconds.

"Wow, look at yeh! Yer doin' good, kid!" The large green reptile said in response. Charmy grinned.

"Shadow, to your left!" Rouge yelled as Shadow began to shoot at four ships coming their way.

"Tails, dodge!" The ultimate life form said. The two tailed fox nodded as he began to wobble the ship.

"Hey, get some more ships down!" Sonic called out. "They're coming after me!"

"I got you, Sonic!" Knuckles replied. He shot down more ships as Tails went through a cloud, high above Eggman's airship.

"Is it just me, or did the sky get darker?" Vector commented.

"Yeah… it did!" Amy replied.

"Foreshadowing, I bet…" Shadow added.

More and more ships continued to make their way, rushing towards the Tornado. Yet, they were shot down each time.

Tails took a slight detour around the right side of Eggman's airship as more ships advanced. Once again, they were being shot down by the group as Tails moved the Tornado to the left.

"There's a lot of cannons still around!" Tails said as he dodged a large beam. "We'll need to destroy each one before we can land safely!"

"Alright then, let's do it to it!" Sonic replied.

* * *

"Hmm… all this fighting going on outside, a familiar airplane… this can only mean one thing…" Dr. Eggman mused from the main pilot room.

"We're going to be nuked? OH NO, I CAN'T DIE! I'M TOO YOUNG!" Cubot tragically said.

"NO YOU IDIOT!" The doctor yelled in response. "The Chaotix and their friends have arrived… finally… they brought me what I wish…"

Orbot and Cubot watched as Dr. Eggman moved towards a pillar with a bowl on it. The bowl contained the ball shaped object with red markings that he had kept in the fish tank. He looked down at it and pressed a button, causing the pillar, and the bowl with it, to go into the floor.

"Finally, your time for awakening has come… U.B…"

* * *

Espio looked up as he heard the countless explosions coming from outside. He buried his head into his legs, hoping that Vector hadn't been on one of those planes.

"Please… hurry, Vector…" Espio muttered, starting to feel himself break.

* * *

"Those are the two main cannons on the front of the ship!" Tails said. "Now, it's time to take out the remaining few by where we should land!"

Sure enough, there were four white cannons pointed directly at the Tornado. They began to shoot missiles that Omega shot down.

 _"Rouge, Shadow, now is your chance,"_ Omega said. The two members of Team Dark pointed their turrets at the cannons. Two of the cannons exploded as Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy shot their turrets at the remaining two cannons. Just as one exploded, another began to charge up.

"TAILS! WATCH OUT!" Vector called out. Tails perked up and quickly did a barrel roll, narrowly dodging a large blue laser. The bee popped out from where he was hiding and began to shoot at the last remaining cannon. It exploded as the two tailed fox put a fist in the air.

"Alright, we did it!" He said. "Now we can head down!"

Vector's heart beat intensely as Tails maneuvered the Tornado down. He safely landed the plane as everyone got off.

"Nice thinking with those turrets, Tails!" Knuckles complimented.

"Eh heh, thanks, Knuckles. I knew we'd need them," Tails replied, blushing.

"You remember our plan?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah," replied Vector, nodding.

"There's something I have to give you."

Sonic handed Vector a shiny gold ring.

"If things go bad, and I mean real bad, when I'm super, just give me this. You understand, right?" The blue blur asked. The large green reptile nodded.

"Hey, hedgehog, this is no time for good luck charms," Shadow said, turned around. "Let's get going."

"We're comin'!" Vector replied. Charmy buzzed up to his guardian.

"Charmy, give me the Chaos Emeralds," Vector requested.

"On it!" The bee replied. One by one, he handed him the blue, green, purple, red, light blue, white, and yellow Chaos Emerald.

After joining along with everyone, Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega walked along the airship. Amy held her hammer tightly as Knuckles seemed to be ready to attack.

Just then, Dr. Eggman popped up in his Eggmobile, along with Orbot and Cubot.

"Why hello, Chaotix and friends!" He said. "It's so nice to see you!"

"Cut it out with the nice talk, Eggman!" Vector yelled. "We got whacha want! Now hand 'im over!"

"Ah yes, the chameleon, Espio. Don't worry, he's still alive. Just a little… beaten down from acting disrespectful…"

Vector growled as his brow furrowed.

"So, the Chaos Emeralds?"

The crocodile held them out.

"Oh, how splendid! You did get them all! Well, as a part of the deal…"

Eggman pressed a button on the control panel of the Eggmobile, which revealed a key. He held it out in front of Vector.

"This is the key to Espio's cell, after you've given me what I want, it's all yours."

Swallowing, Vector walked up to the evil doctor, still holding the Chaos Emeralds. His tail swished in a certain way to signal Sonic to get ready.

With everyone hoping that the plan would go right, Vector seemed like he was going to give the Emeralds to Eggman.

However, just before he could let them drop in his hands, Vector moved his head and yelled "NOW SONIC!"

The blue hedgehog speeded off, but before he could even reach the Emeralds, Eggman swiped Sonic and Vector away with a large metal object that came from underneath the Eggmobile.

"SONIC! VECTOR!" Charmy, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy yelled. Everyone, including Team Dark, rushed over to check on the two downed mobians.

"I'm okay…" Sonic said.

"S-Same here…" Vector added, holding his shoulder. Everyone looked up at Eggman, who was now laughing hardly.

"DID YOU FOOLS SERIOUSLY BELIEVE YOU COULD FAKE ME OUT? TOO BAD!" He said. Dr. Eggman took a look at the key before throwing it overboard. Vector held his arm out as his jaw dropped.

"No… NO! DAMN YOU EGGMAN!" Vector snarled, smashing his fist onto the ground. "I'LL KILL YEH, I'LL KILL YEH!"

It took everyone's strength to not let the crocodile come after the evil doctor.

"Finally… they're all mine, all seven Chaos Emeralds… my plan for the end has come!"

Eggman pressed another button as the same pillar he had in his quarters earlier now emerged. Everyone looked at it confused.

"What is that?" Rouge asked.

"This… this is the start of your downfall! The end as we know it! Look and see the great powers of the Chaos Emeralds, U.B…. your time for awakening has come!"

"That's U.B.? Looks pathetic Eggman, it's just a ball," Sonic said.

"No, this is no ball, _hedgehog_ ," Eggman spat. "Arise, successor of evil!"

Eggman crashed all seven Chaos Emeralds into the ball as electricity busted from each one, hovering over the ball. It opened up, revealing an embryo. The embryo thrashed about as it began to scream. However, as it did, dark energy burst everywhere. The group held their arms over their faces.

"Do you feel that?" Vector asked.

"Darkness, pure darkness," Shadow replied.

"I feel chills up my spine…" Charmy commented, shivering.

Suddenly, the clouds around them began to turn a dark purple, and black lightning filled the sky as a result of U.B.'s will of dark energy. While it seemed like it only affected where the airship was, the worst part was that the clouds of dark energy were spreading fast.

* * *

As the citizens of Station Square walked along the streets, the area became completely dark. Everyone looked up at the sky and pointed at the dark purple skies. Some began to panic and ran away in fear, while other's stayed put, simply wondering what was happening.

* * *

Cream, Cheese, and Vanilla were in their backyard, planting vegetables. Surprisingly, where they were was quite sunny.

The little rabbit hummed a tune as she watered the lilies with her watering can (green with a pink flower on it), Cheese helping out. Meanwhile, Vanilla planted a few carrots.

"Add some water to the carrots, will you dear?"

"Yes, mommy!"

Cream happily watered the newly planted carrots and smiled at her mother.

Just then, the sky began to darken.

"That's strange… the weatherman said it was going to be partly cloudy today…" Vanilla said.

It was when the two looked up that they saw the dark purple clouds.

"Look mommy! I think a very bad storm is coming!" Cream said. Cheese looked up at the sky with curiosity.

Vanilla on the other hand, looked terrified. She simply knew by the color of the clouds that this was not normal. The adult rabbit bit her lip as she felt a dark aura coming from the sky.

"Mommy?" Cream asked.

"Cream, we need to get inside, _now_." Vanilla sharply said.

"What?"

"NOW!"

Vanilla grabbed her daughter and held her tightly as she ran into her house, allowing Cheese access before shutting the door and locking it.

* * *

Big and Froggy sat by their usual fishing spot, waiting for new catches. So far, only two fishes were caught, and the large purple cat wanted there to be a sufficient amount for him to eat.

After throwing his line into the pond, Froggy croaked as the sky began to darken. Big looked up at the dark purple sky, emotionless.

"It looks like the sky's angry today…" he said.

* * *

The Babylon Rogues were training for their next EX-World Grand Prix. Jet, Wave, and Storm did one last lap around the Cliffside they were training at before stopping to take a break.

"That's one good lap, Rouges! We need to keep this up! After this break, let's do another lap!" Jet said. Storm nodded in response as Wave noticed the sky getting dark.

"You might wanna scratch that idea, it looks like it's going to rain," she said. However, when the Rogues properly looked up at the sky, they saw dark purple clouds advancing quickly towards them.

"Boss! Those clouds look weird!" Storm said. As they got closer, Jet began to look at them with fear in his eyes.

"Jet?" Wave asked. "What's the matter?"

The hawk could feel the dark aura emanating from the sky in the same way Vanilla did.

"I don't like how that sky looks, not one bit. It's nowhere near normal," He said.

"Now that you mention it, when has the sky gotten purple like this?" The swallow mused.

Jet looked sharply at his teammates. "Wave, Storm, we need to get out of here, NOW!"

"Huh? Jet, what about practice?"

"When I mean now, I mean NOW! Practice can wait another day, Wave! Right now, we need to hightail out of here, pronto!"

Jet kicked the ground and began to speed off on his Extreme Gear as Wave followed. Storm clumsily followed behind the two.

"B-Boss! Wait up!"

* * *

Ranger Ken sat with his son in their front yard, watching the sky and feeling the breeze. His wife was hanging up clothing for it to dry.

"I'm sorry we couldn't go on that picnic, sport," Ranger Ken said.

"It's okay, dad. You told me about what Sonic and his friends are going to do about that Dr. Eggman, so all's going to be good," His son replied, smiling at him. The ranger smiled in response, caressing his son's head.

It was then that the sky began to darken as the three looked up. Ranger Ken sat up and looked at the sky in shock, positioning his hat.

"Chaos all mighty… it's worse than I thought…" he muttered.

"Ken? What's going on?" His wife asked.

"Honey, you and Michael need to hide inside right now."

"W-What? What about you?!"

"I'll be fine, get me my shotgun from the closet."

"Your shotgun?"

"I think hell's going to break loose."

* * *

As the dark energy subsided from where U.B. was, the group could see that the once embryo took on a new form.

This new form looked like a human fetus, only it had a large head, the wings of a demon, and a long red tail. It crawled from the pillar and onto the floor, gurgling.

"What… IS THAT THING?!" Amy screamed, holding her mouth.

"This 'thing' is the definition of evil, the thing that will help me achieve my goal, destroying Mobius! My magnum opus if you will!" Dr. Eggman yelled. "This is U.B… the Ultimate Being!"

"So that's what U.B. stands for… the Ultimate Being…" Vector said to himself.

"It simply looks like an ugly child," Rouge said.

"Don't underestimate this creature, Rouge. I can sense that it is nothing like anything we've faced," Shadow said.

"Now, my child… attack them!" Eggman yelled, pointing to the group. He laughed as he moved the Eggmobile aside, Orbot and Cubot watching from the window.

"Hey, Orbot! Popcorn's ready!" The yellow robot said.

"Ooh! I think I'll need it! This is going to be one interesting fight…" Orbot replied.

"You better share," Eggman coldly stated.

Vector growled as he looked at the Ultimate Being. "Thing, it's just yeh and the rest of us. One is gonna have to survive,"

The Ultimate Being got up from the floor and began to hover as everyone held their ground.

"That's what we're gonna find out! C'mon guys! Let's do this fer Mobius and fer Espio!"

As Vector ran up to the Ultimate Being, trying to punch it, it swished its tail, causing everyone to be flung back. It held its stomach in and let out a burst of energy, only hurting everyone more. Amy tried to attack with her Piko Piko Hammer, but found that it didn't affect the Ultimate Being.

"What?! How is this not getting hurt?" She asked.

"Amy, let me go next," Shadow said. The ultimate life form looked at the Ultimate Being before attempting to kick it in the face. However, Shadow was knocked back without any time to react.

Knuckles proceeded to run up to the Ultimate Being, before being knocked back by one of its bursts of energy. Sonic and Tails simply stayed back.

"Argh! There's no way we can beat this thing!" Rouge said.

It was then that Charmy positioned his stinger at the Ultimate Being, firing a sting shot at its arm. Surprisingly, the Ultimate Being yelped as it seemed to have been hurt.

 _"Let me take care of this,"_ Omega said. He positioned his arm cannon and shot five consecutive rounds of bullets, each of them hitting the Ultimate Being as it yelped in pain once again. It held its arms close to its chest again.

"Guys, get out of the way!" Vector yelled as everyone flung themselves back as the Ultimate Being shot out another burst of energy.

"Charmy, Omega! Get another attack in!" Tails said.

"Alright, I will!" The bee replied.

 _"Affirmative,"_ The robot added.

The bee shot another stinger at the Ultimate Being as Omega once again, shot five consecutive rounds at it. Holding in its arms once again, everyone stepped back as another burst of energy spread out around the Ultimate Being.

"Let's see if this'll end it!" Charmy said as he shot out another stinger. Omega shot the Ultimate Being from there.

The creature fell to the ground and held its arm out. All of a sudden, the Ultimate Being spontaneously combusted. Its entire body on fire, it did nothing to try to put the flames out.

"Pff, that's it, Eggman?" Sonic asked. "Your Ultimate Being was bested by us!"

"You believe that? Don't come to conclusions you don't know the answer to, _hedgehog_!" Eggman spat.

All of sudden, the Ultimate Being began to shine white as it seemed to have exploded. Everyone covered their eyes to shield them from the blast, but when they opened them once again, they were horrified at what they saw.

The Ultimate Being had not died, but instead, taken on a new form. This new form was entirely white, larger and taller with red eyes, a set of branch like arms under its regular arms, a tentacle on its back, and legs above the ones it already has. However, it was who this new form looked like that caused everyone, especially Vector, to freeze up.

It had taken the form of Espio.

"W-What is this?! Is this thing growing?!" Shadow questioned.

"Ah ha ha ha! You catch on, ultimate life form!" Eggman said. "The Ultimate Being will continue to grow until it reaches its final stage, where it will be so powerful, nothing, and I mean NOTHING will destroy it! Go, kill them all!"

The Espio-form of the Ultimate Being began to float as Vector could only look at it with fear and sadness.

"Vector, listen to me! That's not the real Espio! The Ultimate Being has simply taken on his look!" Sonic said. "Pull yourself… VECTOR! MOVE!"

The crocodile saw that the Ultimate Being its hands together as it shot out a periwinkle ball of energy directly at him. Vector dodged just in time as it shot out another two. He looked at the Ultimate Being with anger.

"Hey… how's 'bout a little present?"

Vector breathed a fireball that hit the Ultimate Being directly.

"Someone, distract him fer me!" He said.

"I'll take care of that!" Rouge replied. She flew up to the Ultimate Being and took out one of her jewels, beginning to taunt the being of evil.

Meanwhile, Vector took out a piece of gum and blew one of his signature bubbles as he floated into the air. Going above the Ultimate Being, he slammed his fist into its head before being smacked away by it.

"At least I got somethin'…" He muttered to himself.

Omega held up both of his arm cannons as he shot out a barrage of bullets. Each of them went through the Ultimate Being as Sonic used his homing attack skill on it, crashing into it.

"This bug you? It should!" The blue blur added.

As Sonic returned back to where his friends where, the Ultimate Being began to charge up for more of the periwinkle colored balls of energy. However, Amy stepped up in front of everyone, holding her Piko Piko Hammer tightly.

"Not my friends you _scum_ ," Amy spat out. Tails was surprised to see this new side of the pink hedgehog.

"Amy?" He asked.

"Tails, I'll protect each and every one of you. Don't worry," Amy replied.

The Ultimate Being shot its balls of energy as Amy reflected each one back at the Ultimate Being. She ran up, and jumping high into the air, smashed her hammer onto the head of the being of darkness.

Coming down to the floor, Amy smirked. "I'm ready for more!"

"Action gal, aren't we?" Knuckles asked. The red echidna was caught off guard for a brief moment as the Ultimate Being tried to clamp its branch like arms on his head. However, Knuckles pushed the two apart as far as he could using all his strength.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" He breathed out to the Ultimate Being. He began to push the arms farther apart as the red-eyed impersonation of Espio, portrayed by the Ultimate Being, blankly looked at Knuckles. With a grunt, he pushed farther apart as Knuckles knew he dislocated the branch-like arms when he heard the **CRUNCH** noise.

"Ah ha! Gotcha!"

But the outcome was different. The Ultimate Being detached itself from the branch like arms, which turned out to be wings. It floated above the Ultimate Being as it crawled around the floor on all fours.

"Ahh!" Rouge cried out, flying upwards to avoid any confrontation with whatever it was trying to do.

"Listen! We need to attack both the wings and the Ultimate Being itself!" Shadow yelled out.

"Ok! Charmy, Rouge, and I should take care of the wings while the rest of you focus on the Ultimate Being!" Tails replied. The three flight type mobians flew into the air as cord connecting the wings began to shoot out the balls of energy the Ultimate Being had been shooting out earlier, only in a much rapid succession.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Shadow and Omega shot bullet after bullet at the crawling Ultimate Being as it stay still. Its body began to glow as a peculiar color emanated from its forehead.

"Huh?" Vector said. He soon caught on as to what the Ultimate Being was doing. "OH, CHAOS! EVERYONE, GET OUTTA THE WAY!"

The Ultimate Being lifted its tail and burst out a large beam of purple energy. Knuckles could feel himself get hurt by one of the balls of electricity that the wings were shooting out.

"Damn, this thing never wants to stop!" The red echidna said. "How are you three coming along?"

"I've stung the wings a few times! Tails and Rouge are just looking for the perfect moment to strike!" Charmy replied.

As he said that, the group was taken off guard by the Ultimate Being shooting out another beam, this time, moving it back and forth. Vector, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow screamed as they were flung back. Omega fell on his front, immediately getting up.

 _"I… I will not be bested once again,"_ The robot said. He positioned his arm cannon and proceeded to shoot a hefty number of bullets at the Ultimate Being.

"Tails, now!" Rouge said as the two attacked. Rouge kicked the wings upwards as Tails used his tail attack to cut the wings in half. The Ultimate Being screamed as what was left of its wings fell to the ground.

"Now to take care of this ugly mug!" The white bat said.

The Ultimate Being, now seeing itself at a disadvantage, began to crawl away from the group. Vector smirked in response.

"Not so tough are ya?" He mocked.

Seconds later, another beam of energy was shot from the Ultimate Being's tail, which everyone dodged.

Dr. Eggman began to thrash in the Eggmobile. "Go! Do something! I command you to kill them!"

The Ultimate Being's eyes narrowed as it lunged forward as Vector, bringing the crocodile down to the ground. He attempted to push him off with all his strength, moving his head from side to side as the Ultimate Being tried to clamp its sharp teeth on the crocodile.

Vector kicked the Ultimate Being in the stomach as it went flying back. Amy used this opportunity to attack using her hammer. With the strongest swing she could muster, the pink hedgehog swung her Piko Piko Hammer, causing the Ultimate Being to crash onto the outer walls of the airship.

Running up to it, the group saw that the Espio form of the Ultimate Being, much like its last form, spontaneously combusted.

"Hopefully this is it!" Vector said.

However, it showed no signs of stopping.

Everything went quiet as the sound of a heartbeat was the only thing that audible. Eggman's goggles lowered as a wide, evil looking grin appeared on his face.

"Yes… open your heart to unleash even greater evil onto this world…" He said.

The Ultimate Being suddenly was lifted into the air as it shined bright. Everyone covered their eyes once again, and uncovered them to see that the Ultimate Being had undergone a third transformation.

This time, it looked less like Espio and more like an alien hybrid, it stood tall and muscular, with two blue tentacles protruding from its back. It now had glowing green eyes, and its tail was now much thicker.

The group could only look on in horror as the beast in front of them refused to die.

"This… this is the mature being?!" Vector asked.

"You have that right, Vector! With the Ultimate Being slowly evolving more, all you can do is waste your energy. Attack them, Ultimate Being!" Dr. Eggman said.

The Ultimate Being slowly moved around the group as green electricity jolted out from its body. It looked at Vector and rushed towards him, attacking with its elbow, and then crashing down with its fist. Vector yelped as he was brought to the ground as a result of each hit.

"VECTOR!" Charmy cried out. Before the bee could help, Shadow grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Kid, it's too dangerous! That thing will kill you in an instant!" He said. Charmy looked with sadness in his eyes as Vector tried to get up, and eventually did.

Holding his fists, he punched twice at the Ultimate Being's chest as he flew away to the corner of the airship.

"Guys, arentcha gonna help?!"

"Vector's right! We're all in this together!" Amy said. She, along with everyone else joined the crocodile.

The Ultimate Being held its hands together, and lifted its tail as it began to charge up a pinkish-purple aura of energy. It shot out a barrage of royal purple balls of energy, each hitting the group and sending them back.

"We're not gonna be this thing's punching bag anymore!" Sonic growled. He sped up to the Ultimate Being and attacked in the air. He finished his move off with a homing attack.

Falling back to the ground, the Ultimate Being concentrated its attention on Sonic, and attempted to attack him. However, the blue blur dodged each attempted hit.

Using this chance, Omega held out his arm cannon and began to shoot a multitude of bullets, far more than before. He had eventually ceased his fire after the Ultimate Being began to block the bullets using some sort of kinetic field.

"Guys, I have an idea!" Vector called out. "We need to combine our attacks all at once!"

"How are we going to do that?" Rouge asked.

"Just follow after me! All ya need to do is surround the Ultimate Being!"

Everyone nodded as the group circled around the demonic creature. The Ultimate Being looked around for a brief moment before a white circle formed around its body, pulling its arms close to its chest. It began to glow as it prepared an attack.

"NOW'S THE PERFECT TIME!" Vector yelled.

Immediately, Omega began to shoot at the Ultimate Being as everyone jumped into the air, and attacked in their own separate ways. Vector and Knuckles, with their fists, Shadow and Rouge, with their elbows, Sonic, curled into a ball, Amy with her Piko Piko Hammer, Charmy with his stinger, and Tails with his tails attack.

The eight landed back on the ground as the Ultimate Being stood still. It then began to tumble on the ground, standing on its legs. Everyone (sans Omega) was breathing heavily at this point, tired from all the fighting they've done.

"Is it over?" Knuckles panted.

Just then, a horrid screeching noise was audible as everyone (but Omega again) covered their ears. The Ultimate Being's body began to become filled with boils as is skin began to turn blue and scaly, almost watery in a sense. Its hands became long fins as a horrid squishing noise was made as it happened. It grew another set of arms as blood oozed out from where the arms grew, its color a sickly green. Its face no contained no details; it instead looked like a worm. Amy covered her mouth and closer her eyes as she sounded like she was going to throw up.

"Amy…" Rouge said in a worried tone. She could understand why the pink hedgehog was reacting this way, seeing this thing transform in front of their eyes was disgusting.

Of course, the Ultimate Being wasn't finished with its transformation. Its tail now longer, its entire body became translucent. And finally, where its chest was, a large heart was visible, which connected to all the visible nerves on the Ultimate Being.

"Hey, Tails… is it me or does the Ultimate Being look a bit like… Chaos?" Sonic asked.

"Now that you mention it…" Tails mused, seeing the features on the Ultimate Being. "Yeah, you're kinda right,"

The group now looked up as the Ultimate Being now overshadowed them, Eggman flew next to it and laughed.

"It's still growing!" Vector said. He squinted his eyes more closely. "No… It's… evolving…"

"Evolving? Then, you mean?" Tails asked.

Vector nodded his head.

"Oh ho ho ho ho! You may have defeated the first three forms of the Ultimate Being, but! This is the true form! Behold its power! Watch as your untimely deaths have arrived! NOW, ATTACK!" Eggman yelled.

The Ultimate Being launched out nine spherical objects towards the group. Not knowing what to do, each of them launched a red beam at someone. The first to get hit was Charmy, who was flung back. Vector could hear him crying because of the pain and got angry.

"DAMN YEH, NOT MAH LIL' BUDDY!" He yelled. He ran up and attacked the creature, but saw as his hand went through the body of the Ultimate Being. The crocodile looked up and saw that all the objects surrounded him. He was blasted away and landed a few feet from where he was.

This went on until everyone was down. Omega attempted to put on a fight, but to no avail.

 _"Bullets are not doing enough damage, switching to laser cannon mode,"_ He said. Just before Omega could fire a beam, he was blasted away as well.

Everyone now lay on the floor, groaning in pain as it only seemed to get sharper.

Eggman flew towards everyone and laughed.

"Finally! Your days of defeating me have ended!" He exclaimed. "And not only will you die, but that chameleon as well! I have no need for him after all!"

He then snickered. "And not only will you lot endure pain and suffering at the hands of the Ultimate Being, but so will Mobius as a whole!"

Tails lifted himself from the ground. "It's… it's no use… Eggman's taken things so far…"

"Not far, fox boy! This is revenge for every little time Sonic and his pathetic friends have ruined one of my plans!"

Vector moaned in pain, not being able to do anything.

 _"E-Espio… I'm… sorry…. I failed you… I let you down for not being strong enough…"_ He thought. A tear rolled down his cheek as he shut his eyes. _"Now… I'll never see you again…"_

"Finally, the last stage before your death! Ultimate Being, lay your eggs onto Mobius!"

The Ultimate Being attached itself to Eggman's airship as it began to drop transparent turquoise colored eggs from the sky. Many of them were being shot down at an alarming rate.

* * *

The people of Mobius screamed as the eggs were hitting the ground, hatching into large bug like creatures. Many attempted to run away as the creatures went after everything in sight.

* * *

Ranger Ken pointed his shotgun and shot one of the creatures as one tried to attack his arm. He punched it then shot it.

"Ken!" His wife called out from inside the house, shielding their son's eyes.

"Honey, stay inside! I'm going to protect you and our boy, even if I die trying!"

His wife's eyes filled with tears as the ranger continued to fire at many of the creatures.

"Damn… they just never quit appearing, do they?" He mumbled. "Vector and his friends… I hope they're killing whatever's causing these things to appear."

* * *

Back on the airship, everyone continued to lay still as the Ultimate Being stopped laying its eggs.

"Finally… now, kill the-"

Before Eggman could finish, Sonic slowly got up, seeming to limp.

"Oh, the blue blur himself wishes to face the Ultimate Being?" Eggman said.

"Yes, I've had enough Eggman. We're not going to stay here and watch Mobius become a wasteland for this thing's eggs. I'm going to kill it in a different way," Sonic said.

"How so?"

Sonic smirked and walked over to the seven Chaos Emeralds, which were on the floor.

"What?! No… how did they get there?!"

"I think your little beast dropped them."

"N-NO! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!"

Sonic felt himself float in the air as the Chaos Emeralds began to spin around him. He held his arms close to his chest as the Emeralds spun faster.

A golden light shined brightly as everyone covered their eyes. Vector looked up to see that Sonic was now a golden yellow, his eyes red, and was floating. This meant one thing: Sonic transformed into Super Sonic.

Super Sonic looked behind him at his friends.

"Vector, I'll take care of the Ultimate Being from here. You go on ahead and find Espio. As for everyone else, you all should return to the surface and destroy all the eggs this thing laid all over Mobius," he said. Everyone nodded as they got up, somehow feeling better now that Sonic did his super transformation.

"Vector, take this!" Tails said, throwing him a small object. The crocodile saw that it was a walkie-talkie. "Call us and we'll get you and Espio, once you rescue him!" He then called out: "Be careful, Sonic!"

"Yeah, same!" Amy and Knuckles added as they, along with Charmy and Team Dark, headed back to the Tornado. The plane took off as Vector looked at Super Sonic.

"Yer gonna be alright?" he said.

"I'll be fine," The now golden hedgehog said, looking at the Ultimate Being. "Now go!"

Vector nodded as he ran past the creature.

"They're getting away! Oh, never mind! He can rescue that chameleon for all I care! Ultimate Being, destroy Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Super Sonic grit his teeth. "HERE I COME, YOU EVIL DEMON HAG!"

* * *

Vector panted heavily as he ran around the ship, looking for where Espio was.

"ESPIO! ESPIO, WHERE ARE YA?!" The crocodile called out. He looked around frantically as he took a turn to the left.

"ESPIO?!"

It was then that he heard a voice.

"Vector?! VECTOR, IS THAT YOU?!"

It was none other than Espio.

The large green reptile ran to the left and headed into a narrow hallway with cells in them. Looking to the left, he found who he was looking for. Espio looked miserable, more skinner, afraid, and weaker than he normally looked.

"Dun worry, Espio, Imma getcha out!" Vector said. Remembering what he did during the fake Eggman case, Vector punched the bars of the cell as it burst open. Once it did, Espio ran into Vector's arms.

"V-Vector… I thought you never would have come…" Espio said in an emotional tone. Vector consoled his crush.

"Shh… it's okay, Espio… I'm here to getcha out now… I was worried so bad fer ya too…"

The leader of the Chaotix looked down at the fuchsia reptile. "I know there's some things we should talk about, but now's not the best time, we need to get outta here!"

"I agree, let's leave," Espio replied. Vector grabbed Espio's hand and led him down the how, frantically looking for an exit.

"Damn… ya think they would have emergency exits or somethin' of that likeness…" Vector muttered. The two reptiles went up a flight of stairs and looked down at the fight Sonic and the Ultimate Being was having. From the looks of it, Super Sonic seemed to be getting weaker as more and more hits were being landed on him.

"Vector, Sonic's in trouble!" Espio said.

It was then that he remembered what Sonic gave him; the gold ring.

 _"If things go bad, and I mean real bad, when I'm super, just give me this. You understand, right?"_

Vector ran over to the glass and punched it, causing it to shatter. Super Sonic glided backwards as he looked up.

"Sonic, take this!"

The crocodile shot the ring at Super Sonic as he collected it with ease.

"Oh no you don't!" Eggman said. Super Sonic lunged forward as the Eggmobile, causing it to go through the Ultimate Being, damaging it, then flying backwards far away.

"NOOOOOOOOoooo I'll get you next time, Sonic!..." Eggman echoed as the Eggmobile went soaring through the sky, far away from the airship.

"It looks like we're blasting off… that's a really dated jokeeee!" Orbot and Cubot yelled along with Dr. Eggman.

"Yeah, good job!" Vector complimented, giving a thumbs up.

"Vector, we have no time! We need to escape!" Espio said, tugging on Vector's arm.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, we shouldda taken focus on ourselves first. But Sonic is our friend, and he's super important in defeating that thing."

"I understand. Still, we need to go!"

"Alrighty, alrighty,"

Vector ran across the room and through the door.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE**

Super Sonic continued his fight with the Ultimate Being. He was seeing now that the creature was dangerously low on stamina.

"Ready for more?" Super Sonic asked in a cocky tone.

Before the Ultimate Being could attack, Super Sonic charged all the energy he had stored up and used his Super Sonic Missile ability, shooting right through the heart of the Ultimate Being. It completely detached from the body and flew down from the airship.

Super Sonic watched as the Ultimate Being began to flail intensely, the same squishing noise being audible. One of its fins began to expand before tearing off completely, liquidly puke yellow colored blood spilling out onto the floor. The second fin came off entirely as well as the first one.

It continued to flail as its skin began to completely detach. The once blueish skin now turned yellow as the Ultimate Being backed into a corner. The lower half of its body came apart and entirely melted upon hitting the floor. With one last attempt of levitating, the Ultimate Being fell to the ground as its skin melted, leaving nothing behind but a skull and the upper half of a spinal cord.

Sonic smirked as finally, the threat of the Ultimate Being was now over.

"Now, time to wreck this place!"

* * *

"Espio, I think I found an emergency exit!" Vector exclaimed. The two were now panting from all the running they did. However, they knew they had to keep running.

Just before Vector could open the door, an explosion shook the entire ship, causing Vector and Espio to tumble to the floor. The crocodile found himself on top of the chameleon. The two stared at each other for a brief while, blushing slightly. Vector immediately got himself off from Espio.

"U-Um, er…. I…" Vector stammered. "S-Sorry 'bout that, Espio. I just sorta fell on ya because of that explosion and uh-"

"It's fine," The fuchsia reptile responded.

"Still, what the heck was that?"

Vector's walkie-talkie crackled to life as he pulled it out.

"V-Ve..tor… Vector, can you hear me?" Tails said.

"Loud and clear, what's goin' on?" Vector asked.

"The airship just exploded! You and Espio need to get out of there, now!"

"Eggman didn't come back, did he?"

"No, it's Super Sonic! He's destroying the ship so it doesn't do any harm!"

Vector froze. "Wait, he'd destroy it knowing we're still on board?!"

"My guess is as good as yours. Anyway, get off from the airship and we'll meet you on the surface!"

"Gotcha."

Vector kicked down the emergency exit in front of them as it got sucked up by the wind. Opening the emergency parachute window, the large green reptile saw that there was only one parachute.

"What are we going to do now, Vector?"

Without saying a word, Vector put on the backpack containing the parachute and grabbed Espio as he jumped off from the airship. The two went flying down as more and more of the airship exploded.

Vector continued to hold Espio tightly, not wanting to let go despite his aching muscles wanting to. He had decided to open the parachute, which opened up without an issue. The two reptiles were now descending to the surface at a slow pace, so Vector thought this would be the ideal opportunity to tell everything to Espio.

"Espio…" Vector began. "I dun think ya know how much it means to me to see yeh again."

"The same here… I was losing hope day after day," Espio replied.

"Well, I'm here now…"

Espio softly smiled in response as Vector looked embarrassed. _"Now it's time…"_ He thought.

"Espio… y'know… throughout this entire adventure, I've been real adamant on savin' yeh, but… as I collected more and more Chaos Emeralds… I began to feel… strange."

"How so?"

"I worried 'bout ya so much that everyone else was worried about me, yer all I can think 'bout."

"Me?"

"Yeah… especially after I realized something…"

Espio's heart fluttered up. _"Is he going to say what I think he's going to say?"_ he thought.

"Espio, d'ya promise ya aren't gonna be mad at me if I say what I wanna say? I dunno how yeh'd take it…"

"Take what?"

"Espio… I… I love you."

Vector turned away from the chameleon, not wanting to look at him in the face. The ninja chuckled as he held Vector's face, moving it to face him.

"So, you took my advice," he said. "Still, it's best not to assume certain things."

"Whaddya mean?"

Espio got closer to Vector, eyelids lowering.

"Because I feel the same."

Before the leader of the Chaotix could respond, Espio wrapped his arms around Vector's neck and kissed him right then and there. Vector's eyes widened as he slowly returned the kiss.

From until they reached the surface, Vector and Espio kissed.

* * *

When the two finally got back to land, they immediately headed over to Station Square, where it seemed many eggs still remained. Yet, Charmy, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Team Dark was doing a good job exterminating all of them.

The two reptiles could see that Super Sonic returned to the surface to meet with the rest of his friends. Vector nodded to the golden hedgehog as he sent out a large burst of energy, disintegrating each egg, both hatched and unhatched. Sonic felt himself getting weaker as he shot away the Chaos Emeralds (but not before grabbing the yellow one), turning back to normal.

The dark purple sky finally subdued as the sky appeared to be clear now. All the citizens of Mobius came out from where they were hiding to look at the result of the attack. However, they began to clap and cheer for the heroes. Everyone smiled (sans Team Dark) and wave, and Vector and Espio looked at each other from a brief glimpse and smirked.

* * *

After moving to a quieter location, Sonic handed Shadow the Chaos Emerald he had.

"Here you are, edgehog," he said, tossing it to him. "One Chaos Emerald for you as a reward for helping us,"

"Thanks, I guess… our work here is done. Rouge, Omega, let's return to G.U.N."

"Gotcha."

 _"Affirmative."_

Team Dark walked away as the Chaotix, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy watched them go.

"There they go…" Tails said. "You know, it's kind of a shame, I was getting used to them."

"I think we all were," Sonic said. "Anyway, we're really glad to see you back, Espio. You aren't hurt or anything, are you?"

"No, I am okay. I promise," Espio replied.

"Well, with you all cuddled up against Vector, I can see you're not," The blue hedgehog chuckled. Espio chuckled as he gave a smooch to Vector's cheek, catching everyone off guard.

"Whoa! Did you just?"

"I sure did."

"So, you guys are an item now?" Knuckles asked.

"Yuppers!" Vector replied.

"And when did that happen?"

"Just not too long ago."

"I see… it looks like it'll take me time to comprehend that… still though, you guys are happy with each other."

"I'll say!" Amy added, holding her hands. "Because you two make such a cute couple!"

Vector and Espio chuckled. "Well, ya know what they say," The crocodile said.

"I can tell you one thing: my knight in shining armor arrived to me on that airship," Espio joked. Everyone laughed in response.

"That explains why you were worried sick about Espio! I get it now!" Tails said.

"Yeah bud, love's a crazy thing, lemme tell you," Sonic said, poking the two tailed fox.

"And speaking of love, Sonic, since this is the end of our adventure, give me a kiss for a job well done!" Amy said, holding out her arms. Sonic retracted, looking paranoid.

"See, Tails? Case in point! I'll catch you guys later!"

Sonic sped off as Amy went after him. "Don't leave me, Sonic! That's not fair!" She called out.

"Well, time to return to Angel Island. That Master Emerald isn't guarding itself you know," Knuckles said.

"I can take you there," Tails said. "Besides, this adventure gave me a ton of ideas for future inventions! I'll probably be cooped up in my workshop all night!"

"Nerd," Knuckles stuck his tongue out at the fox. "Anyway, we're going now. See you guys soon."

The Chaotix waved as Vector put Espio down on the floor.

"So, you guys are serious right? You're in love?" Charmy said. The two reptiles nodded.

"Ew, don't try to get your lovey-dovey cooties on me, it still counts even if it is you two, Vector and Espio!"

Crocodile and chameleon laughed, reminding themselves that Charmy was still a child, and didn't comprehend romance.

"Alright, if that's what you wish, we'll try not to get you 'cooties', Charmy," Espio said.

"Good! Other than that, I'm happy you guys are together! Does this mean you guys are my parents?" Charmy asked. Vector and Espio looked at each other.

"If ya wanna see it that way, sure," Vector said.

"Yay! Parents! Parents!" Charmy buzzed around the two reptiles. "Hey, if you guys are my parents, we should have a celebration for saving Espio and Mobius! We should go out for ice cream!"

"Heh, yeh better be thankful I grabbed all those rings in the temples. Hopefully there's still SOME place that's open," Vector said.

"Yay! Come on, Espio!"

Espio slyly grinned as he held Vector's hand, and Charmy held Espio's arm, the now united Chaotix members going off to Station Square to enjoy time together. It wouldn't just be the three however, something new would arise for Vector and Espio in the future, and they knew it to be positive.

* * *

…

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…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

 **A WEEK LATER**

 _"Hey Tails, I gotta ask… what WAS the Ultimate Being?"_

 _"The Ultimate Being? Truth of the matter is, Sonic, I tried to find something about this Ultimate Being, but nothing…"_

 _"Yeah but… it's strange. How did it take on the form of Espio, not to mention, look human like Egghead?"_

 _"It could be a result of the two's DNA mixing."_

 _"So, you're saying the Ultimate Being was created by Egghead with stuff from Espio?"_

 _"We may never know. One thing for sure, it doesn't match up with anything here on Mobius, so that means…"_

 _"It came from somewhere else, and Eggman modified it."_

 **FIN**

* * *

 **(AN 2: So, here we are, another Vecpio fic finished! Thank you to everybody who's faved, followed, and most of all, reviewed this story so far! I had a real fun time writing this (even if it was longer than I'd normally write), and really do have it on high regard! Now, that ending may seem like its setting up for a sequel, but to ruin those plans, no, I am not writing a sequel to this story.**

 **So what's next?**

 **I have ONE Vecpio fic in the works, that won't be posted until the summer. The only thing I'm going to say is, on June 26th, 2016, let's return to Mobius U, shall we?**

 **As for anything else, well, the next thing I have planned actually is a Jetorm (Jet/Storm) AU I wrote a while back, that I wanted to post onto here. Other than that, I've been thinking about tackling other fandoms too, but hey, only time will tell.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed _A Deal or No Deal,_ and I'll see you next fic...)**


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